Affirmative Action
by Tobiwolf13
Summary: Goes AU around the time of Freak. Clark rescues Chloe from Lex's lab and she ends up joining the new Justice League along with him.
1. Chapter 1

**A Box of Chocolates**

When the phone rang through the fourth time, Clark was worried that his luck, which granted had been terrible lately, had finally had run out.

"Come on, please be there. Please…"

"Please what now?" An amused voice answered on the other line.

Oh thank god or whoever was in charge of looking after aliens. Recovering quickly, he said, "Mr. White is that you?"

"Yes, although some days I wish it weren't especially when the midlevel cubicle on the 38th floor just seems a bit more cramped than usual. Who's this?"

"Um…It's me, Clark Kent, maybe you don't remember me from Smallville---"

"Clark Kent," Perry repeated, sounding pleased. "Of course I remember you. Hanging on for dear life to your legs over a gorge isn't exactly something I'd be bound to forget. Besides, it's almost like I owe you my first 12 hour chip."

"Huh?" He'd been up way too late for cryptic comments, although something told him that even on a full night's sleep he wouldn't be able to keep up with Perry White.

"AA humor, Clark, ignore me." There was a rustling noise and the sound of clunking. Clark could almost imagine Perry putting his feet up on his desk. He was just casual enough to do it. "So not that I'm not glad to catch up on old death-defying times, but why are you calling me?"

Clark twirled the phone's extension cord around his fingers, taking pains to remind himself not to snap it like last time. "I have a favor I need to ask you for."

"If it's a job at the Planet, the only pull I have will land you in the mail room or as an intern grabbing coffees. Still working the bottom rung at the Planet beats the editor's desk at The Inquisitor any day."

"Uh no, it's not a favor for me, but thanks for the offer."

"Any time, Clark. I love to encourage talented journalists. As long as they don't get under the Tiffany lamps before I do." He laughed. "So what can I do for you?"

"My friend, Chloe Sullivan, you remember her, right?"

"The lady editor with more story ideas than ten seasons of X-Styles."

"Yeah, that's her. See, she actually works at the Planet now, down in the basement and stuff."

"I'm glad you told me that. Now is that all?"

"No, see I was calling about her."

"I can't get her a better job than she has now, but I'm flattered you still think I have that kind of pull."

"No," Clark's grip tightened on the cord and he thought he heard the plastic cracking. "She's sick and I need someone to talk to her editor and get her off of work for the next…um…week."

"So you called me? Was her father not available?" Perry sounded even more amused. Well at least Clark was making someone's morning.

"You're the only person I know at the Planet and she's really sick and I know she'd never stay home on her own if she could go to work. She's got a Daily Planet addiction."

"Well, a run down to the basement might be nice. They have much better donuts than we do, but this illness wouldn't have anything to do with the Luthors, would it?"

Clark blanched. Maybe Perry had become a psychic during his brief foray into the wilds of Smallville. "What?"

"Ms. Sullivan is a good enough reporter to have had a few articles on the front page by now. Even if I hadn't remembered her from Smallville, I'd be aware of her now. Besides, her testimony made my expose on Lionel's trial a page one exclusive. Speaking of the maned menace, he visited Ms. Sullivan about two months ago and it was quite the argument."

"How do you know that?"

"There's only one worse group of gossipers in Metropolis than the Planet staff and they're the staff at that rag whose name I shall not speak. The King of Metropolis visiting and having a meltdown with a cub reporter makes news all over the building." He sighed and over the line, Clark could hear his chair swivel. "Besides there was that whole incident with the attempted shooting last month. What exactly has she gotten herself into this time?"

Clark stopped and chewed nervously on his bottom lip while he tried to come up with a cover story for 33.1. "I…it's complicated but yeah, she's managed to get herself into some trouble again. There was a bad night last night and I don't want her out of my sight for a while."

"Protectiveness of our fine lady editor. Admirable trait." He paused for a few seconds and continued. "I'll let Bernstein know. He owes me a few favors and I have some incriminating bachelor party photos of him I can extort for even more time off for her if she needs it."

"Gee, Mr. White, I really appreciate it. We both do."

"No problem. You're both good kids, although Chloe seems to accrue death threats the way the rest of us rack up points on our licenses. Clark, you'll tell her to pace herself from now on. No one needs two mortal enemies by the time they're twenty."

"Two?"

"Maybe one and a half. I've never been sure how independent Lex is of his father, but I'd be willing to bet my next cruller that he's really the one behind this latest installment of Sullivan-Luthor cat-and-mouse game."

"Uh…"

"It's alright. You don't have to confirm or deny anything. Just take care of Chloe. When I finally replace Kahn, I want a good reporter working under me and she could be one of the best."

"I'll tell her you said that. It'll make her feel better. Um, bye."

"'Um, bye.' Have a little conviction Clark. I'll see you both sooner than later. TTFN."

The phone clicked and the dial tone sounded in for a while in Clark's ears. He was a bit taken aback. He'd never really thought of Perry White as a Tigger fan, although to be fair, Perry had always been a bit eclectic. He hung up the phone and walked to the bottom of the stairwell in the main hallway. His mother was already half way down them with a tray of mostly eaten chicken soup and a full glass of orange juice clutched in her hands.

"Well," she said, stopping in the middle of the steps and holding her arms out, "Are you going to help your mom or not?" He nodded and sped to her and set the tray back on the kitchen counter long before his mother even blinked. She smiled in approval, "Thank you, sweetie." Then she frowned. "Why do you have the orange juice still?"

"I was going to bring it back up to her. She might still be thirsty or something."

"I don't think you need a pretext to visit her. You just saved her life."

"Mom…I…she just didn't really want to talk after everything that happened."

His mother walked down a few more steps until she was on the second one from the floor, putting her at eye level with him. "It's mostly just the shock. She'll want to see you now. I'm sure of it."

He looked down at the floor. "Mom, it's not just that…you know that it's all my fault."

"I think that you're remembering last night wrong. It was Lex who built the secret lab and Lex who abducted Chloe. You saved her life."

"And she wouldn't even be on Lex's radar if it weren't for her status as a meteor mutant and there wouldn't even be meteors if I'd never come here."

"And I'd like to meet the three year old from any planet who can prevent an apocalypse and a meteor shower." She pushed his bangs out of his eyes and let her hand rest on the side of his cheek. "She knows you, sweetie, and she knows that none of this is your fault. Now go upstairs and keep her company. I think she's had her fill of Mama Kent time."

He nodded and blurred up to his bedroom, pausing outside for a second, still nervous. Perking up his ears, he could hear her sniffling on the other side of the room, occasionally a few sobs escaped her throat and it made Clark want to run over to the mansion and strangle Lex for what he'd done. Or possibly scorch him.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and eased his way across the threshold. "Chlo?"

Chloe quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him. Her face was a mess, her nose blotchy from crying and her eyes red and bloodshot, but she was still Chloe and she'd propped herself up on his headboard and was staring back at him with the same amazing self-possession she'd always had. "Hey. I guess you could hear all that."

"From the couch last night I could hear everything. I'm glad my mom stayed with you. It sounded like you had a lot of nightmares."

"Isn't it more like post-traumatic stress if you were actually there?"

He nodded. "Maybe."

She swiped at her eyes again. "Look I really don't want to take up your bed any longer than I have to. The Talon isn't so bad and Lois should be back from visiting the general in a few days."

Clark eased over to the bed and sat down at the foot of it. "And Lex owns The Talon and it will be the first place he'll look for you. Besides, if I let Lois sleep in my bed for six months, I'd be more than happy for you to take it."

"Thanks for the offer but here is the second place he's going to look for me here." She grumped.

"It's a lot safer than The Talon. He's not taking you again, period. I don't care if I have to tear down the mansion, Luthorcorp, and every 33.1 installation myself. He's not getting you. I've already called Ollie, and he and the guys are coming back from Malta or wherever tonight."

"So that's who was on the phone."

"No, that was Perry White. He's explaining to your editor right now that you're sick and won't be in for the next week."

"You called Perry White?" Chloe practically shrieked. She was turning red, which was interesting, seeing the pink blush spreading out between the freckles on her cheeks.

He shrugged. "He was the only guy I knew at the Planet and it's not like you could go into work like this. Besides…" he trailed off.

She nodded, looking down at her comforter and pulling on a few loose threads. "My ability…I can't control it yet."

"Being out in public might not be the best idea right now," he agreed. "I mean, I don't think it will take more than a week for you to get the hang of it and even if it does, Perry says your editor owes him."

Chloe smiled a little at that. "I still can't believe you're friends with The Perry White."

"It's more impressive now that he doesn't see triple of me."

She laughed. "Being sober does help with the writing, I'm sure." She pulled more on the thread.

He reached over and took her hand, rubbing the back of it gently with thumb. "So how are you really?"

She hiccupped as one tear worked its way down her right cheek. "How do you think I am? I just had Lex drill his way into my stomach, I can't go home because he owns the freaking building I live in, and the rest of my life is completely fucked up because I have this power. God, sometimes I wish the stupid meteor showers had never happened."

He pulled his hand back so quickly that Chloe yelped with surprise. "I know. I'm really sorry, Chloe."

She looked up at him and shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"No. You're right. I'm glad I'm here. I love my mom and y…I mean, I love hanging out with you, and I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else."

"Especially not on a giant icicle."

"You just can't enjoy the beauty of the North Pole."

"Yes, that's it. I've never fully embraced all the joy of slowly freezing to death."

He laughed a little and reached back for her hand, relieved when she gave it back to him. "I still wish I could take back all the bad stuff that came with me and the meteors though---Lana's parents, 33.1, you. Even Lex was scarred by the shower. He probably wouldn't be quite as obsessed with meteor mutants if he wasn't one himself."

"You'd think that would make him less likely to lock them…us up in cages."

"Luthors have a funny definition of compassion. Still, I'm sorry I did this to you."

She rolled her eyes and slapped him on his shoulder. "You know that guilt complex of yours is getting tedious. You're guilty for leaving me at Spring Formal and for terrible fashion sense and let me tell you your wardrobe of nothing but flannel is an unforgivable offense."

"I own something else beside flannel."

"I think you own one button down for Thanksgiving and nice occasions. That doesn't count. So to review: sartorial tragedies, totally your fault. Meteor showers: not your fault. You know I'd trade normalcy for you any day of the week."

"You sound like my mom."

"She's a smart lady but I don't know exactly how to take that. I sometimes feel like your mom, considering how much time I spend pulling you out of mopes and making sure you do the heroic thing."

"You are not my mom."

"Uh-huh. Who helped you out with the newest power?"

"You. Still, I don't French kiss my mother in the basement of the Planet."

"Good times." She said, sighing. "You know I'm going to have to break up with Jimmy."

He blinked. "But you guys just got back together."

"And what am I going to tell him?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw how well things worked out between you and Lana and Lois and Oliver. That whole Natty Bumpo-Lone Ranger bit only sounds good in theory. In practice, this whole hero riding off into the sunset thing pretty much blows."

He blinked twice. Following Chloe always required every ounce of his superior perception. "Huh?"

"I have this weird ability. It's not like he won't notice it eventually, not if he spends enough time with me and you've seen Jimmy. He's the living embodiment of devotion."

Clark shrugged. "Not everyone is as stupid as Oliver or as scared as me. You could always try telling him. He might even understand."

"First of all, the you not telling Lana might have actually been a good thing. Now that she's close to the King of Evil Medical Experiments, having her know that you're an alien would be a disaster."

"And if I had told her, she probably wouldn't have run off to Lex in the first place."

"Hey!" Chloe snapped, raising up her chin. "Isn't this my pity party?"

"You brought up Lana."

"I was doing you a favor. You can't have a conversation without mentioning her name every five minutes. I thought I'd mention her first and let you get your fix."

He flinched and looked back at her. "I guess I have been a little preoccupied with her lately."

"If by 'lately' you mean since first grade, then yeah. It's okay. I've adjusted to your obsession. I just don't like you thinking of yourself as a coward because your probably the bravest person I've ever met. But judging by Lana's latest passion for photography and the general stalker vibe she's giving off, maybe she's not the most stable person around."

"Well, I think I might have broken her a little."

"I don't think that's it, even with her parents. There are just things you don't do and stalking your 'friend' and rifling through their private space is one of those things. I mean, snooping through a locked file drawer or some internet records is one thing, but stealing chisels is kind of another."

He shrugged. Surprisingly, he really didn't want to talk about Lana right now. This was all about Chloe and about trying to help her piece her life back together, not about making him feel better, even if she had adopted that as her full-time project. "Still, Oliver and my romantic mistakes aside, not every person with abilities ends up alone."

Chloe frowned. "You know, technically Oliver is just Olympic quality archery. He's not exactly super."

"And yet he runs the Justice Bros."

Chloe giggled. "Are you serious?"

"No. That's what Bart and I call it when we e-mail each other. I think he's going crazy from living in close quarters with A.C." She laughed some more, her rich peals of laughter making him grin. Right then it was the best sound in the whole world.

"Still, about the Jimmy thing. I don't think he'd get it. I mean, he's only been exposed to the Smallville weirdness twice and his big solution was for me to move the Hell out of Dodge. Even if he did get it, I couldn't drag him into all of this. He already snooped after Lex and the Egyptians, which pissed Lex off enough to get him fired by the way. If he knew about 33.1 or Kryptonite or any of that, he'd just put himself in danger trying to expose it."

"Truth and justice." He murmured. "No wonder you love the guy so much. He's almost as obsessed as you are with getting the truth out about Lex."

Her smile dimmed, becoming wistful. "He's going to make a good photojournalist one day just not with me."

He squeezed her hand a little tighter than he usually would have. With Chloe's ability manifesting he wouldn't have to be as careful around her as he was with everyone else. It was nice. Too bad it came at such a high price. "You could try the lying route."

"Yeah, I can barely cover for you without problems. Now that I'm upgrading from sidekick to crime-fighting partner I don't think that I'll be able to keep it from Jimmy."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Partner?"

"Oh like I don't go with you on half the rescue missions you try. I'm just thinking that now I can do more than hack through firewalls in a single bound." Her grin was widening a little. "I have to admit, that part of having a power isn't going to suck. Being on the sidelines can be so boring."

"But now you won't have any use for your trunk full of cool toys."

"There's always a use for a flash bang grenade even if you're partner in heroing is the Man of Steel."

"True. I can't fry retinas yet."

"That's the spirit." She said, patting the side of the bed next to her.

"Yes, that is the side of the bed." Clark deadpanned.

"It's also the universal signal for come on and sit next to me." He paused for a second, biting his lip and she rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'm getting tired leaning over to grab your hand. Besides, I think I'm getting a crimp in my neck from looking up at you. Why couldn't a few extra inches be my super power?"

He crawled over, getting tangled for a second in the comforter and Chloe's bathrobe before he reached the left side of the bed. Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest, painfully aware of how close Chloe was to him. She might have just said she was breaking up with Jimmy, but that could still be the lack of sleep and the shock talking. Jimmy was a decent guy and Clark didn't want to get in trouble for lying in bed with his girlfriend.

Of course, Chloe being Chloe was going to have everything the way she wanted it. Lying back down, she rolled over and leaned into his chest. "Come on, lift that right arm. My shoulders feel naked here."

"Chlo, I dunno about this."

"Clark, please. Your mom was holding me tighter than this last night." She looked up at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "Please, it makes me feel safe like this. It makes me almost believe that Lex can't get me."

"Lex is not going to get you." Clark growled.

Chloe smirked up at him. "Your eyes just went reddish."

"They did not."

"Did too and I only thought that heat vision acted up when you were aroused. Is there something about Lex you're not sharing with the rest of the class?"

That did it. Chloe needed a lot more sleep. "No. There's nothing at all between us except for my deep desire to crush his skull. You know, I think I could be talked out of my strong sense of morality just this once."

"As tempting and slightly creepy as that offer is, I'd rather have Lex remain in one piece because one day soon his name is going to be splashed across the front page of the Planet for crimes against humanity Lionel could only dream of."

"And you'll have the by-line."

"Naturally. We're going to get him from all fronts: taking 33.1 out from under him and ruining his reputation."

"That's my girl," he said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Now you're all touchy-feely."

"Well," he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze, "you said it was okay."

She reached up and pulled his arm tighter around her shoulders. "Oh, it definitely is."

"How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Maybe forty-five minutes. I tried to get more but every time I closed my eyes, I saw myself strapped to that table and I just couldn't deal."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that." Chloe snapped. "There's nothing you could have done. I got grabbed on my way home from the Planet. It's not like you've ever needed to chaperone me at work before."

He snorted. "I wouldn't try chaperoning you now, especially now since you could actually take me."

"Right. I've got one power. You went to Vegas and hit the jackpot with your collection, but that's a good self-preservation instinct. I don't need secret service."

"You might now."

"I might, but the Planet is a pretty public place. Even if Lex wanted to try something, he's not going to risk exposure to the biggest paper in the country. He's curious but cautious. Besides, there are a lot of meteor freaks out there who are a lot more powerful and who don't have personal protection or such a high profile. He'll be busy rounding them up for a while."

"I don't think I like that term very much anymore."

"'Meteor freak?'"

He nodded. "It's kind of derogatory."

"Oh my god. You're going to go P.C. Nazi on me. I bet you're one of those people who says 'cross-legged' instead of 'Indian style' and everything."

"Well, it just seems kind of mean. I never liked the term much to begin with and after Alicia died, I liked it a Hell of a lot less."

She nodded. "You're right. Of course it doesn't matter what you call me, I'm still going to have a freaky power when I wake up tomorrow morning."

"Still, you shouldn't think of yourself as a freak. How about just going with Kryptonite-infected?"

"Thank you, Intergalactic Traveler. Do you ever come up with terms that aren't like twelve syllables long?"

"Sorry we can't all be as pithy as 'zoners,' but I think it'll work fine."

"If you say so. It still doesn't change things." Chloe added, her tone bitter.

He didn't know what to say to that, not really. Instead, he held her and stroked her hair for a long time, letting her relax in his embrace. He understood only some of what she was going through. It was like mourning, except you got to mourn yourself or more accurately the bland, Madison Avenue prescribed lifestyle you would have led if you weren't so damn different. He'd gone through it when he'd found out he wasn't human and it had sucked, but he'd always at least been inhumanly strong. He'd never had a memory of being normal, aside from his few brushes with it over the years, but he'd been born different. Andrea said that the worst part of her mutation was remembering what it was like before everything changed. He'd be willing to bet the farm's next mortgage payment that she was right.

Even now, remembering the summer he'd been human hurt worse than he could articulate, and even then he'd known deep down that it couldn't last, that Jor-El would make him go back and achieve his destiny, it still hurt.

But Chloe…poor Chloe hadn't known anything was ever going to be different until her power just up and manifested itself three days ago.

Suddenly, Clark became aware of a change in her heartbeat. It was racing at a frantic pace and she was twisting in his grasp, whimpering a little. Realizing that she must have fallen asleep, he sat up and shook her as hard as he dared, trying to get her to wake up. "Chloe! Chloe, come on."

She broke out of his grasp and sat straight up, gasping for breath. Blinking a few times, she reached over with her arms and pulled up her shirt, revealing the smooth expanse of her stomach underneath. It was still marred by a few scars from yesterday's procedure, but it would heal. "Thank God. I thought I was back there."

He wrapped both arms around her and kissed her on the forehead, deciding that Jimmy Olsen really didn't matter anymore. Anything that would make Chloe feel better counted, and, to be honest, it made him feel better too. He wanted to be reassured that she was still here, that he hadn't screwed up in his mission to save her yesterday. They stayed like that for a while, him hugging her until her heart stopped speeding along.

Finally, when she'd calmed down a little, he layed them both back down on the bed, still wrapped up together. She was breathing in deep, even breaths, her efforts to remain clam clearly evident.

"It helps sometimes if you distract yourself. I used to recount every good memory I had associated with the items in this room."

"I don't live here," Chloe sniffed.

"You practically do." He said, continuing. "Like on the desk is the picture of you, me, and Pete at the annual Corn Festival where you won the Corn Queen contest."

"You entered me as a joke."

"Pete entered you as a joke, but I'd never seen your dad so happy as when they put the corn silk crown on you."

"You should have seen him when I got back from Prom. He made me wear the crown all weekend. He was so excited for me."

"See, that's good memory number one." He sat up a little, hating to separate himself from Chloe even for a second, and then he pointed to book on his desk. "And that's the book on astronomy that you actually got the author to sign."

"If that's not love, I don't what is. I had to drive all the way to Metropolis and sit through a two hour talk on black holes to get that guy to sign his book. Do you know how incredibly bored I was?"

"And it was the best birthday present I got junior year."

"That's not a happy memory, that's a 'Chloe was bored enough to dig her way to China with just the yogurt spoon in her purse' memory."

"Oh how can you not like outer space?"

"Do you even understand the levels of irony in that statement? Besides, most of astronomy is just math. Yuck. I'll keep current events, thank you very much and…wait." Chloe added, looking up at him. "You said 'used to.' What happened to you?"

Of course nothing ever got by Chloe. "I…well there was this time in senior year where Lionel tricked me into being a medical experiment."

"He tricked you?"

"Well it was at Summerholt and I was trying to get Lex to stop his memory recovery experiments and instead Lionel sold me out to Dr. Garner."

"Jesus."

"Yeah, the superfun part that I really enjoyed was the tub full of liquefied Kryptonite. Imagine having your skin burned off at the same time your muscles are being boiled by your own blood."

"Jesus."

"You said that already."

"And I thought that a few needles to the stomach were bad. I'm sorry."

"It was a while ago." But he still thought of it. His nightmares had a series of rotations: breaking up with Lana, accidentally killing Lana in the middle of you know, having Lex expose him to the world, having his mom or Chloe killed and/or tortured because they knew all about him, having his mother marry Lionel, and, of course, the perennial favorite of being a lab rat. It's just that the lab rat thing had actually happened the one time.

"But you still dream about it."

"Maybe a little."

"You are the worst liar, Clark."

"Okay a lot. Hey," he said, brightening, "At least you have that skilled liar thing going for you when you start in on your secret identity phase." He sighed, his expression becoming serious again, and rested his chin on her head. "I've always dreamt about being experimented on ever since I can remember. It's not like I was a stupid little kid. Even at three you can figure out that being caught lifting the family car is not a good thing. The memory game is a trick my mom came up with when I was five. I stopped sleeping for about a week because of the nightmares and she was afraid I'd never go back to sleep."

"So a week solid or were there microsleeps?"

"Solid and before you ask, Woodward, I don't know how long I could go without sleep because that really is not something I'd like to test out. I like my seven hours, thank you."

"And waking up at five with the crow of the roosters, oh joy." She shook her head. "At least I've learned a new game. It might help. I'll have to move some of my own good memory stuff in here with yours, though, but thank you."

"No problem."

She sighed. "God, what the Hell am I going to do?"

"Well I was hoping that we could both actually get some sleep and then I think my mom raided the Blockbuster. She's been on a kick of treating bad things like colds and emerging powers with DVDs and chicken soup."

"I know. Your mom should just skip the senator thing and become a full time chef. I think there are people who would give the pink slip to their cars to her in exchange for a bowl of that stuff."

"So, are you ready for the DVD-a-thon already?"

"In a second. It's just that this is nice, but it's not going to make any of the other stuff go away."

"You mean the Kryptonite ability."

"Yeah. It's just…I'm different now and it's permanent. I mean there were times when I was sort of jealous of you because who wouldn't want to be able to run as fast as you do or set stuff on fire just by thinking about it."

"I didn't know you were a pyromaniac."

"I'm not but that's pretty cool."

"You don't seem that enthusiastic about the x-ray vision."

"Fire pretty." She replied simply. "But that old cliché has come back to bite me in the ass because now I can do something seriously dangerous and it's not cool. It's just---"

"Scary."

"Yeah. What if I hurt someone?"

"That's why we're going to practice. I'm pretty much invulnerable so we'll just start with you, me, and a field. If you're that worried about furry woodland creatures, we can always go to the Fortress but you hate wearing the parka so much."

"The back forty is fine." She replied. "How can you just train yourself to do something like this on command?" She said, gesturing vaguely to herself as if he'd get her power confused with his own.

"Well first it starts out as an accident."

"Like blowing a barn door seven miles."

"Or setting fire to the projection screen at school during sex ed. Stupid Kryptonian biology. There is no way that setting one's date on fire is evolutionarily advantageous. Just no freaking way."

She shrugged. "You are fire proof." She bit her lip. "Oh, here's one: hearing everything in school."

"Hey you weren't even there for that one."

"And yet my phone conversation----which was totally wrong and I'm still sorry for that----got repeated over half of Lowell County."

"And then sometimes you accidentally X-ray the girls' locker room."

This time she did slap him and it almost hurt and that was so beyond weird. "You did not. Was I there?"

"I don't know. Did you and Lana share gym period freshman year?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Of course it was when Lana was there."

"It was a total accident. I swear!"

"Convenient accident." She snorted. "Okay, so I guess you can get the hang of this kind of thing, but what if I can't adjust?"

"You can."

"You don't know that."

"When has Chloe Sullivan ever failed at anything? Besides," he added, playing his trump card, "You have to get the hang of it and go back to the DP. Perry's already lining up his dream team for when he runs the bullpen and he asked for you."

"Seriously?"

"Deadly serious. He's impressed by you, so you're going to need to go back to the Planet without destroying the building, you know?"

"Not funny." She frowned. "Seriously, what about when you couldn't get the hang of something."

"Well except for some property damage to The Talon, that's never really happened."

"Really?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, well I might still break my bed slats on a regular basis."

"What you do here alone at night is your business, unless you haven't changed the sheets recently in which case I am going to kill you and now I think I might be able to do it."

He blushed a bright crimson. "No, that's not what I meant. See…I, um, well I sort of float."

She blinked. "How does one sort of float?"

"You see I do it in my sleep so I can't control it."

"And you never told me." She sounded disappointed.

"There's not much to tell. I can't do it voluntarily so it's not like I can even prove that I can do it. It's like a non-ability."

"So is it like the heat vision?"

"I am not answering that question."

"Well if we don't know what triggers it, then how are we supposed to replicate it?"

"We?"

"It'll be this week's project: I'll harness my new power and you'll actually learn to fly."

"Float." He corrected.

"Oh it will be flying by the time we're done. We can celebrate by you taking me to Dublin."

"Dublin?"

"Were you expecting something dewy and excessively girly like Paris? Sorry, Clark, wrong girl. I'm a Sullivan-Lane girl and we celebrate with a healthy round of Guinness. You can even join in, considering you can't even get drunk."

"What if you can't anymore either because of like a Kryptonite-influenced metabolism?"

She drew a hand to her chest in mock horror. "Then it will be a fate worse than death." Laughing, she pulled herself out of Clark's embrace and started to stand up. "I've had enough lying down for a while. I'd like to practice if you're up to it. If Ollie and company are coming I'd like to be ready to go into 33.1 as soon as possible." She smirked. "I cannot wait to see the guys' faces when they get a load of me. There is far too little diversity in the Boys' Club."

"Hey! Alien!"

"Male Intergalactic Traveler. Guy archer, guy speed demon, guy cyborg, half-guy/half-fish. See the trend? Besides, if Bart thought I was Chloelicious before…"

"He's never going to leave you alone now. There aren't enough super-powered girls to go around. The whole Justice Team will be all over you. We already know your Oliver's type---brash reporter."

"I am not just going to work my way through the 'Justice Bros'" She made air quotes on that last part and laughed. "I have my standards."

"Well I was just suggesting since you seemed so bummed with having to dump Jimmy."

"I'm protecting Jimmy. This…it's all too much for him and I don't want Lex to just outright kill him the next time he gets in the way. It still doesn't mean I'm on the prowl."

"It doesn't?" Clark asked, finally standing up from his bed.

"Nope."

"Does it mean that you might have someone else in mind?" He asked, taking a step closer to her and leaning down a little.

She stood up on her toes to meet him half way and closed her eyes. "I just might."

He leaned all the way down and gave her a kiss. It was sweet and gentle with the barest hint of tongue. There was time for all that seven-minutes-in-the-closet frantic groping later. He just wanted to be patient with her now, to let her know that she was loved and cared for. Besides, even now that she was "special," he still had a hard time being entirely relaxed around girls, too much time spent being conditioned to be careful.

They pulled back and the grin on her face was so wide he thought her face would split in half right there. "That was nice."

He grinned back at her goofily. "Yeah, it was. Gets better." He blurred over to his dresser and returned, standing before her with a box of chocolates held out in his right hand. She hit him on the shoulder and this time it did hurt. He rubbed his arm, surprised, and just a little bit scared of pissing Chloe off. "Hey! What was that for?"

She yanked the box of chocolates out of his hands and held them up for him to get a good look at. "Are you serious?"

"What's wrong?"

"First of all Valentine's Day was two weeks ago. Second of all, this box is dented and I think these are Shelby's teeth marks in the corner. What kind of lame ass gift is this?"

"First, I was going to give it to you the day after the party on actual Valentine's Day, but then Lois went crazy and I---"

"Turned into a man-whore."

Clark ground his teeth and reminded himself that he was supposed to be making Chloe feel better today. "Fine, turned into a man-whore."

"As long as you admit it. It's the first step to recovery," she added, batting her eyelashes sweetly up at him. "What's number two?"

"Shelby did really get to the box, but I stopped him before he managed to mangle any of the chocolates."

"That's good. So is this an 'I want you to be my girlfriend' kind of present or a 'Welcome to the League of superheroes' kind of present?"

"The first one." He added, shifing from foot to foot.

She frowned. "How about a 'Happy Belated Valentine's Day and I'm Glad Lex Didn't Kill You' gift?"

"Huh?"

"Neither of us is ready for the girlfriend-boyfriend thing considering that Lana has a magnetic pull on you and Jimmy doesn't even know we're broken up yet. Besides, I need to get a handle on the new me before I add any guy to the mix."

He nodded, agreeing with whatever Chloe wanted on principle, but really hating the compromise. "Fine, but we're still going to eat them, right?"

"'We?' They're my chocolates."

"But a few of them are strawberry creams and you hate those and I love them and we always split."

"You bought me a box of chocolates which you knew I'd share with you?"

"I was really hungry when I bought them. I could have gone with the only nut cluster box but the strawberry creams were calling to me."

"How romantic." She said, reaching up on tip-toe to give him a peck on the lips. "So, what do I get as my 'Welcome to the League of superheroes' gift? Is there a decoder ring? Perhaps a nifty leather outfit?"

"No and no, although in your case, a skin tight outfit might actually be a good thing." He said smirking.

"A world of no. If I wore leather, then no one would ever get any work done back in our super secret headquarters because you'd all be ogling me and beating your chests in manly displays of pigheadedness. Well maybe not Victor, he seems to have common sense."

"I have common sense."

"Yeah and whatever you have that approximates testosterone nullifies it. I've lost count of all the pissing contests you and Lex have had over Lana."

"So a leather outfit is out?" He pouted.

"Oh yeah."

He walked over to the threshold and opened the door wide, waiting patiently for her to step out first. He was a gentleman after all. "So what about spandex."

"Double no."

"A whip?"

"I am going to eat all the strawberry creams just to spite you now."

"Great," he added, moaning dramatically and wrapping and arm around her shoulder. "I was wrong all along. My greatest nemesis was never Lex. It was you."

"Yeah, Chloe Sullivan, heartbreaker and denier of strawberry cream chocolates and the only force on Earth keeping Clark Kent in line."

"You have no idea how right you are." He said, leaning down to kiss her one more time. Right before he stole the box of chocolates out of her grasp and ran (human speed) down the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Role Reversal

The last time Chloe had been out to this part of the Kent's back forty, she'd been watching Clark test out his superbreath. Not that flying a kite with a gust of wind was that heroic an action, but sometimes superpowers could be used for the more mundane stuff, such as boring farm chores or convenient midnight runs into Metropolis for slices of her favorite pizza. The irony that they were now in the same location to test out her superpower was not lost on her.

Stupid irony.

"So, are you ready to try this out?" Clark asked. He was standing under the willow tree with her, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his red jacket. Somehow the stance made him loom even larger, his broad chest becoming the center of the foreground. He was well over six feet tall, had been a quarterback, and looked every inch the superhero he was. Chloe, on the other hand, still had to be tested with the yard sticks at the county fair to make sure she was tall enough for the rides. If there was a height limit for superheroes she was so screwed. Of course, so was Bart. "Chlo?"

"Oh, sorry," she added blinking up at him. "I was just thinking."

"Are you going to go all mopey on me?"

She lifted her chin higher and put her hands on her hips in an unconscious mirroring of his stance. "I do not mope."

"Existential wondering? Brooding? Contemplating your navel?" He offered. "I'm sure you can find a synonym."

"Funny." She riposted, feeling a little off. Their relationship usually worked the other way around. Even when Clark was comforting, he was usually one hundred percent serious. Hearing snark from him was just weird.

He swayed forward a little onto the balls of his feet and then landed back onto his heels. "Are you going to start or what?"

"You know I have no idea how to do this."

"Well not consciously at least."

"And silly me here I thought voluntary control was what we were going for."

He sighed. "Look it's like your body already knows what it's supposed to do. The rest of it is just finding the on switch. It's an introspection thing."

"Fine, oh great and powerful Yoda, but I swear if you start rearranging syntax, I'm going back inside." She was snapping at him already. Mostly, she was trying to stall for time because she didn't want to practice anything. What she wanted to do was go to her dad's apartment in Metropolis, pull the covers over her head, and never come back out. Maybe if she ignored her power long enough it would go away again. It's not like she'd noticed it the other seven years she'd lived in Smallville (or whenever the Hell she'd been infected).

"You're stalling." Clark added, his tone stern but his expression calm.

"Am not."

"Are too and it's pretty obvious. Alright, so the wise alien schtick isn't helping…"

She rolled her eyes. "'Wise?' Who tutored whom through AP English."

"No fair. That was British lit and it was too boring to stay awake through. Besides, we're sort of even. I'm the one who got you through Chemistry." He was almost pouting.

That was just doubly weird because for a second they'd fallen back into the routine of two friends just reminiscing about high school, except that's not what they were here for. Not even close. Shaking her head, Chloe took a deep breath and tried to get rid of the cognitive dissonance. "Maybe the Mr. Miyagi deal isn't so bad. If we let ourselves fall back into the bantering I'll never be able to concentrate."

He nodded. "Okay. Give it a shot."

She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating at first on the feeling of the air leaving her lungs. Breath in, breath out. Wax on, wax off. Whatever. Opening her eyes, she held out her right hand and concentrated. After a few minutes of looking at it and having absolutely nothing happen, she felt like a complete idiot. "Damn it. This isn't going to work."

"That's the spirit," Clark said dryly. "It's gonna take a little longer than that." Walking over to her, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and placed them on her shoulders. "Alright, how many times has it happened accidentally?"

"Just once."

He nodded again. "We can work with that. Okay, what were you doing when it happened?"

Chloe bit her lower lip and thought back about it. It wasn't too hard to call up the memory. Something that bizarre even for the keeper of the Wall of Weird ended up branded into one's brain. "It was at the bowling alley. Lana and I were returning our rental shoes after Dan got abducted---"

"You should have called me right after that happened. We might have been able to find him before the chipping." Clark said, frowning.

"Yeah, well I had to go back and be the happy bridesmaid for Lana. It's not like I could just up and leave and give my excuse as 'your evil meglomanical fiancé just kidnapped someone KGB style for medical experimentation. I gotta go.'"

"Fair enough. So what happened while you were returning your shoes?"

"You know this is oddly like that time last month when I lost my flash drive and you helped me think up all the places it could have gone to."

Clark clenched his jaw. "On topic Chloe. You promised no distractions."

Damn him and his intimate knowledge of her avoidance of reality through sarcasm. Maybe she needed a Yoda that didn't know her as well. "Alright. So we were just waiting for the guy to come back with our shoes and I had my hand on top of the counter. I was talking to Lana about something pointless like bouquets or something, and I grazed over this sticky patch on the counter."

"A sticky patch?"

She rolled her eyes. "The story isn't going to get finished if you keep interrupting me. I was standing there, kind of nodding in agreement to whatever Lana was rambling on about, and all I was really thinking was how gross this was and how I had no idea what kind of germs and whatever else had ended up on this stupid counter. I mean, public bowling alley. If it's just dried nacho cheese, it would be a blessing. And then my ability just popped up."

"So hypochrondria makes you…" Clark trailed off, not exactly sure of the correct term to describe what she could do.

"I don't think it was hypochondria exactly. I mean, sort of. I guess I just wished my hand was protected and then boom, bona fide meteor freak activity."

"And what happened then?"

"Twenty questions much." She sighed, running her left hand through her hair and quickly dropping it to her side. "At first my hand just felt all tingly and I thought maybe I'd been leaning on it too much and it'd fallen asleep, but then I looked down and I freaked."

"Okay, now not to detract the focus from you or anything, but do you think Lana saw?"

Chloe fought the urge to roll her eyes when he mentioned the Pink Princess. In this particular case, Clark wasn't bringing up Lana as part of his contractual obligation to pay lip service to her. This was a formality of a different kind. There was no one who had more experience with avoiding public exposure than he did, and he was trying to make sure she hadn't tipped Lana off. Witnesses were so of the bad. "I don't know. She stopped talking when I yelped and looked down at the counter, but I'm not sure whether she saw anything or not. Once I realized what had happened everything snapped back to normal." She laughed bitterly. "Not that it matters. Lex has my whole examination on video. I think I'm exposed."

"Good thing you have an over protective alien boy…best friend and your own billionaire at your beck and call." He took a breath and squeezed her shoulders. "We'll worry about Lana and Lex later. Can you try it one more time, except this time think about protection?"

Chloe snickered a little but sobered quickly. He was trying and she needed to focus or this would never work. She took one more deep breath and stared down at her right hand and concentrated, deep in thought about keeping her hand protected, encased. After a few seconds, she was afraid that she'd failed again, but then she felt the tingling sensation start up at her wrist and begin to slide down her hand. At first, the skin began to tighten and become rigid. The lines and creases disappeared and her freckles faded into nothing. For a few seconds, it looked like a mannequin's hand, something plasticine and artificial, but then it changed again and hardened further. The skin grew pale and finally translucent and the bones and muscles underneath hardened into stone. No, that wasn't quite right. When everything finally finished, her hand looked like it had been carved out of ice.

When the tingling subsided, Chloe flexed her fingers and breathed out a sigh of relief when she realized she could actually move it. In fact, except for the abating tingles, it didn't feel much different than normal. The only difference was that it wasn't bothered by the cold winter wind the way her reddened nose and ears were. Experimentally, she touched each finger to her thumb. They wiggled just as easily as they always had, and she suspected that if she wanted to, she could type her next story like this and no one would notice a difference in her typing prowess. She could still feel everything, feel the chill smoothness of her fingers as they ran over one another.

It was just different.

She just stood there, wiggling her fingers and staring at them like they were the most interesting thing in the world. She didn't want to look at Clark just then, didn't want to see his reaction. Intellectually she got that that her insecurity was beyond stupid. Clark had shown off every ability he'd ever had (minus the floating) for her and she'd never even flinched. A guy who could shoot fire out of his eyes, after all, really wasn't a position to judge her. Not that he would ever do that even if he'd been a just a normal human guy. He loved her too much for that, maybe not yet like a girlfriend, but deeply nevertheless.

Still, with the exception of his heat vision, Clark never looked weird when he used his powers.

"Wow."

Chloe kept looking at her hand, barely acknowledging his response. "Yeah, nifty."

"Can you look up at me or are you going to lose the concentration?"

"At you?" Chloe squeaked.

"Yeah or do you have to look at your hand in order to keep it that way?" He didn't sound freaked out, which was good. In fact, his tone reminded her a lot of the investigative journalist he'd once been.

Experimentally, Chloe turned her head away and looked toward the far field, at the blanket of snow covering the green pastures. Pointedly not looking at him, she asked, "Is it still the same."

"Yes."

"Good."

"Are you still concentrating?"

"Not as hard. To be honest, it sort of feels like it always does. Um, a little tingly maybe, but otherwise I wouldn't really know the difference."

"Makes sense," he said and she could hear the rustle of his jacket as he nodded his head. "I mean, you didn't even know anything was different at the bowling alley until you looked down. So," he added, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Were you thinking of looking up at me?"

"At you?" This time she put field mice to shame with the squeak.

"Uh-huh. Chlo, I'm not going to have a conversation with you while you're staring into space." Sighing, she turned back and looked up at him. She could feel her heart pounding and knew that he'd be able to hear it to, to sense how nervous she was. He reached up with his right hand and held her chin in place. Great, now she couldn't even appease him with a quick look up. Sometimes having an alien best friend sucked.

Now was one of those times.

"You're nervous."

"And a cupie doll for the Kryptonian."

"Huh?" 

His brow furrowed in confusion but Chloe was in no mood to explain the allusion. "Nothing. Of course, I'm nervous. I'm still not sure how long I can hold it like this and if I can even make it change back and…"

"You're afraid of my reaction."

"I am not."

"You know I can hear how fast your heart is going right now, don't you?"

"Stupid, lie detecting skills. I'm going to learn some yoga master techniques to keep me calm from now on so you won't have the unfair advantage."

"It makes us even. You're usually a really good liar and you can read every facial expression I have like a 14 point Daily Planet headline." He dropped his hand from her face, apparently content that she wasn't going to turn away and then started stroking her hair. "Do you remember when you first found out I was an alien?"

"You mean the fun part where I almost froze to death in the Arctic and I had to get my medicine via dog sled?"

"Yeah, that was probably a stupid question, but I suck at segues."

"I always said your transition sentences needed work." Chloe deadpanned.

He laughed a little and continued stroking her hair. "Anyway, do you remember what you said?"

"There might have been something about sinking flotillas."

"Try again."

She rolled her eyes. "I said that I thought you were amazing."

"Yup."

"Now you just want me to remind you so that you can have that little ego boost."

"Right. That's all that I'm about---the ego trip. No, seriously, Chlo, same thing applies here. I think you're amazing. Well, the hacking skills always appealed to me before and the snark and the writing and the---"

"We get the picture." Chloe said, blushing a little. She'd had fantasies that had started out this way although she really doubted there'd be naked frolicking in the snow. She'd still get frostbite. Well most of her anyway. She wasn't exactly sure what would happen with her right hand.

"Same thing applies here," He added, unperturbed. "Now I think you're just more amazing."

"You can't modify amazing. It's like unique, no gradations."

"Thanks oh lady editor."

"Besides," she said, laying her right hand over top of the impossibly large mitt covering her shoulder, "I really don't think this is amazing. They're…we're called meteor freaks for a reason."

Clark dropped his other hand down and she was about to whine in protest at the end of the hair stroking, when he grabbed her right hand in between both of his own. If she'd been worried about a lack of feeling in the transformed appendage, she needn't have bothered. She could feel everything, maybe more than usual, for while Clark was always unusually warm to the touch, now the heat was overwhelming. It wasn't burning. It was just a deep, flush heat like the glare of the sun on a summer's day at Crater Lake, and it spread through her whole palm. It was the best thing she'd ever felt.

He held her like that for a few minutes before he spoke again. "I thought you weren't going to use the term anymore."

"Well if the shoe fits…"

"Cliché," he mock-accused, calling back to a game they'd been playing all fall and winter when reading through Lois's writing. Whoever counted up the most cliches in an article got treated to a cappuccino by the other.

"Fine. Still, this" she pointed to their clasp hands, "is really weird."

"And I thought you weren't going to mope either."

"Oh, so you get to be all broody and I still have to be resigned to the sassy territory. That's a double standard."

"I'm a better moper."

"I'm still entitled to a pity party."

"But those are so boring."

"Do you know how many times I've had to suffer through yours up in the loft?"

"Okay," he said shrugging his shoulders slightly but never breaking off contact with her hand, "so I'm boring, but you're not."

"No, I think we've clearly discovered that I am just leaps and bounds beyond interesting. In fact I think Lex has a whole fabulous vacation and luxury apartment picked out just for me because of how interesting I am."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, he's been preparing my accommodations in some way or another since the day we met. You'll be in good company. Good, freaky company." He added and she was about to chastise him, call him on his own stupid rule about not saying that word anymore when his irises changed color, the deep russet indicating that he'd activated his heat vision.

"Now you're going to set me on fire?" She asked, feeling a little of her own humor return.

He shook his head. "Low level, just enough to warm up my mom's hands when they get cold from working outside in the winter."

"Gloves much?"

He shrugged, "Gives me practice."

"So are you saying you want to warm my forehead or areas further south," she added, smirking a little for effect.

He took her right hand and put it against his cheek. She was free to drop it any time she wanted to, but she kept it there, curious to see where he was going with this. The sun was setting and the dimming light emphasized the glowing of his eyes. He turned his head down a little and she could feel the heat of his gaze, surprised that he had enough control over it so that it wasn't any stronger than the ambient heat of a light bulb. His eyes trailed over her hand, their glow reflecting in the crystalline surface, making it look alternately orange and gold.

It was beautiful.

Reaching up, he stroked the edge of her wrist with his left forefinger. "We match."

"Not exactly---" She started, turning for her self-defense snark as fast as she could.

Clark knew her too well for that little trick to work. Instead he shook his head and brought his other hand to her lips. "No, we fit and this is going to work." She moved her jaw about to say something and he cut her off. "I know, not right this second because of Jimmy and Lana and 33.1, but it's going to work."

She could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks and she felt so stupid. She'd cried all day on that fucking table, she'd sobbed like an infant in Mrs. Kents arms, and she'd wept alone in Clark's room and hoped no one would notice. She'd been stupid and girly and weak, and she hated that more than anything. Hated that she wasn't done yet. Hated that she was getting everything she'd ever wanted and all she'd had to do for it was give up her humanity.

As much as she loved him, she wasn't quite sure he was worth the price. Not a hundred percent anyway.

He brought his hand up from her lips and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Bent low, with an expectant gleam in his flaming demon eyes, he kissed her. It was soft and sweet like from earlier in his bedroom and, to be honest, Chloe wasn't ready for anything more. She was too tired and too strung out to be looking for anything other than comfort. She leaned into the kiss and let him hold her there until her sobs stopped and the tingling in her hand flared up. When they finally broke apart, his eyes were as green as they'd always been and her hand, fleshy and pink, was already smarting from the cold.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked back in the dusk to the little yellow farm house, just Clark and Chloe again.

But at the same time so much more.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting to Carnegie Hall

For someone born and reared in Metropolis Chloe loathed winter. The piles of snow on the streets, the chill winter winds, the pressing need to layer oneself in cumbersome scarves and sweaters all annoyed her. In fact, when her dad had been choosing his relocation within Luthorcorp, the choice had come down to either Smallville or Florida. Chloe had lobbied for the Sunshine State with a ten minute poster presentation on the benefits of fresh orange juice and long-term exposure to the Happiest Place on Earth. Still her father had picked vice-manager of a crap factory over heading the marketing services in a newer Orlando-based plant, and they'd gotten exiled here. Back then she thought the worst her new and desolate town had to offer was a lack of Daily Planet access. As if. Of course, there were advantages to cold winter nights, namely the roaring fire in the Kent's fireplace.

The leaning against Clark was a bonus too.

"So, how many more DVDs do you have?" Clark asked, his voice rising into a whine.

The other consolation to her condition was that he was going out of his way to be solicitous of her, which meant letting her pick the night's entertainment. Usually, on movie nights they had a fair balance with one mind-numbing action movie for him, one indie flick or classic movie for her, and one mild mainstream comedy for both, although she had been known to pick out the occasional sci-fi movie because she loved a good dose of irony from time to time. Surprisingly, Clark had an affinity for Men in Black, which actually made more sense now that she thought about it. Will Smith seemed to appeal to everybody, just a universally well-liked guy.

Anyway, tonight she'd been able to call the shots and they were working their way through the first season of Veronica Mars (God bless Blockbuster and its newer television box set section). Clark was actually suffering through it pretty well, although it could have been the fact that she and Kristen Bell looked liked twins, maybe he was just imagining it as her on screen. It wasn't exactly a hard stretch---sassy girl investigator always poking her nose in other peoples' business and harassing the local mega-rich in town. Yeah, minus the meteor mutants and the extraterrestrial stuff and this was practically her life.

She yawned a little. "We're half way through the second disk. I wasn't going to make you watch the whole thing. I figured after dinner we'd switch to something you liked."

"Well, I have been busy lately and I had to tape the Super Bowl…" he started.

"Nice try. Something with plot."

"Hey, there's plot and funny commercials."  
"Uh-huh, try again." She added, burrowing into his side. He had his right arm wrapped around her shoulders and between him and the fire she was quite toasty.

He scrunched up his brow for a few seconds and then shook his head. "I got nothing, but I'm sure we can think of something we can both agree on."

"That'll be the day," Chloe mumbled, grabbing for his left hand. Part of their little couch session was actually practice. When they'd gotten back, he'd asked her to try shifting her left hand instead. She was surprised to find that it was much easier than her earlier attempts with her right. Apparently, he was right about finding the on-switch: once you got the hang of it, activating an ability became second nature. Switching back and forth between one state and another while watching TV wasn't that bad a way to practice. Still, she wished she had x-ray vision. That must have been a fun one to get used to, minus the Gray's Anatomy dissections through muscle and bone. She could admit it to herself, if she had the skill, she'd have practiced at least once on the guys' locker room during swim team practice.

Yup, you really should get to pick your skills. She didn't really like hers much. The one nice side effect, which she still didn't understand, was how sensitized her hand was. Not that she could feel all the individual threads or anything in the blanket she'd been resting her hand on earlier but skin to skin (crystal..glass..whatever the Hell her hand was made out of now) contact was overwhelming. Having her palm resting in his caused energy and heat to flow through her, tickling her nerves and leaving her with a heady rush. Of course, maybe it was all because it was just Clark and that trying the same trick with anyone else wouldn't work.

She wasn't sure, which was becoming annoying. She was supposed to have all the answers---hack into the right database and everything you needed to know was right there. Science had never been her favorite subject and empirical trial-and-error left her endlessly frustrated. If someone could just fill in the blanks for her right now without all the awkward experimentation, she'd appreciate it.

"So," she added, looking up at him. "When do you think dinner will be ready?"

"I dunno. Wait a sec," at this point she figured Clark would just walk over to the kitchen to ask his mother. Instead, however, he tilted his head back and yelled "Mom!" as loud as he could, which was a) overkill since they were separated from the kitchen by an alcove, b) unbelievably lazy for someone with superspeed and c) just the slightest bit dangerous since the breath he expelled made the den's walls shake ever so slightly.

"Wow," She said, glaring. "That was real mature there."

He shrugged. "It works."

And to be fair, Mrs. Kent showed up in the alcove, with a tray in hand about thirty seconds later. Chloe shook her head. Her dad wasn't the best disciplinarian in the world, but yelling had never been allowed in the house. It had been a real bitch the two years Lana had lived with them because she'd always been having to actually walk upstairs to the other girl's bedroom to let her know when the phone rang or to get her attention for dinner. If her dad was so averse to a little noise, he could have just sprung for an intercom or loosened up on the cell phone restrictions.

Either way, she'd never thought the Kents would permit the laziness and the bellowing. They were a bit to Ozzie and Harriet for that.

Mrs. Kent narrowed her eyes at Clark and shook her head. "What have I said about yelling in the house?"

"Hah! I knew it." Chloe exclaimed and flushed a little when Clark and his mom focused on her. She rolled her eyes. "Oh like anyone around her is going to tolerate bad manners."

"I don't know. You can get pretty far with drinking out of the milk bottles when no one's looking," Clark added, grinning at her.

Mrs. Kent's eyes narrowed further. "I'm always watching. Anyway, next time you have a question you could ask quietly. Dinner's going to be at least twenty more minutes. However, there is cocoa now." She added, stepping carefully down the step and presenting the tray out to the two of them.

Chloe flushed a little brighter. "Um, if you need help in the kitchen, Mrs. Kent, we'd both be happy to help." She elbowed Clark a little in the side, knowing that he'd turn away from the brunt of the impact. He was really good at letting other people bump into him. It was the only way she could explain the fact that Lois punched him on a regular basis and had never ended up in traction.

"Um, yeah. Sorry about that."

Mrs. Kent smiled a little. "That's alright. It's nothing salad-based tonight, Chloe, and you know I love you like my own daughter but…"

"Cooking is not a Sullivan-Lane girl specialty?" She offered.

"Now I wouldn't say that, exactly. Lois made some very interesting dishes when she was living with us, didn't she, Clark?"

"Yeah stuff Shelby wouldn't eat and I swear made me sick. If some evil mastermind were to harness her powers, then there'd be a pandemic of food poisoning."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oh she is not that bad."

"How many pieces of the rum cake did you eat at my birthday party?"  
"Well, I did try for one, but when the fork wouldn't go through even the icing, I declined."

"See. That's what I'm talking about."

She sighed. "I'm pretty sure the food at the base's mess hall sucks. No one can learn to cook if all they've ever had is cafeteria food."

"What's your excuse?"

"Clark!" Mrs. Kent admonished, setting down the tray on the table in front of them.

"It's okay, Mrs. Kent. I just never bought into that whole domestic thing, besides the only thing my dad can cook is take-out Chinese and pizza."

"Fair enough," he conceded, reaching for his mug, while keeping his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Still, my culinary inadequacies aside, if you need any help, I'm sure there's something I can do that won't ruin dinner. I'm an expert table setter."

"No that's alright. Since you're not feeling well, you have the excuse not to be working in the kitchen."

"You know," Chloe added, stretching her left arm forward to grab her mug (Clark had her thoroughly pinned on the other side and she'd have had better luck outmaneuvering a steel bear trap). "I'm not actually sick."

"Not feeling up to snuff," Clark said, shrugging. "Pick your euphemism."

Chloe rolled her eyes again, half relieved not to be on kitchen-duty and half annoyed with being coddled. "Seriously, I'm fine. It's just like me staying here. I can really go back to The Talon all on my own. I'm not an invalid." She punctuated the end of her statement by wrapping her hand around the mug.

It shattered instantly.

"Crap!" She muttered, staring down at her cocoa drenched hand. "I forgot about that." Mrs. Kent was speechless for a while, staring down at the mess she'd made and, sheepishly, Chloe realized that the other woman hadn't yet seen what she could do. Whatever low-level concentration she'd had to hold the change shattered and her hand snapped back to normal. She cursed again. 

"Damn it, that's hot," she added, grabbing the blanket off her lap and mopping up the burning liquid.

"Chloe, are you alright?" Mrs. Kent asked, using some napkins to help her wipe off the rest of the mess. Chloe had to give her credit, Martha Kent recovered from shock quicker than any person she knew. Of course, considering that sometimes her son came home being able to set whole buildings on fire or running faster than the speed of sound with no warning, adaptability had probably been a key skill she'd honed over the years.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It just stung a little," Chloe answered, not quite looking her in the eyes. She wasn't sure what she was more embarrassed about---inadvertently showing off her power or swearing in front of Mrs. Kent. As weird as it sounded, she was pretty sure it was the latter. There were some people that were never meant for rough and tumble bull pen language like Father O'Grady or her eighth grade chorus teacher with the eight cats and the paisley print dresses. Clark's mom fit squarely in that category.

Clark suddenly popped up in front of her and she realized that apparently she did have some scare reflex left when she squeaked in surprise. "Jeez, do you wanna give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry," he mumbled, holding out his hand. "I thought you'd like some ice."

Chloe frowned at what he handed her: a deeply frozen steak, with icicles still stuck to it. Something had been living in the freezer since 1987. "This is a steak."

"Figure of speech, the stupid ice maker's broken and it's February so that wasn't really a top priority thing to fix. I can get frozen peas if you prefer."

"Thanks, I think." She said, placing the meat in question over her knuckles. "I don't think it's that burned or anything but if you actually got off your butt and got it, who am I to refuse?"

"Hey!"

Mrs. Kent chuckled. "In his defense he's normally not that lazy, what with the morning rounds of farm chores, but between you and me he makes the worst patient I've ever had and after Jonathan I didn't think that was possible."

"Something to be said for modeling or for men being wimps. Take your pick," Chloe riposted. 

"Hey!"

"Is for horses, dear." Mrs. Kent added, smiling. "Well if your sense of humor's returned, I guess you'll be okay. I'll just be finishing dinner."

She picked up the tray, which Chloe noted was completely cocoa free and full of the neatly piled remains of her mug. Clark'd been busy. Why the Hell had she never found a way to convince/black-mail him into helping her clean her dorm room?

As Mrs. Kent started back up the riser, Chloe added, "I'm sorry about the mug. I didn't mean to."

The other woman's smile broadened. "Clark, how many?"

Chloe blinked, confused. "How many what?"

Clark rolled his eyes and plopped back down onto the couch. "She can never remember how many glasses I've broken. I went through twenty-seven sippy cups before I turned four. As for glasses and stuff, I think even I've lost count."

Chloe whistled. Clark had a memory like the proverbial elephant. If he'd lost count it had been a lot. She turned back to Mrs. Kent and shook her head. "How did you---"

"Keep flatware around? The Goodwill is our friend. Until he was ten we didn't have a set of matching glasses."

"I got better." Clark defended.

"Yes, you did dear. Now if no one's going to interrupt me I can actually finish the meal. Chloe, if you really want to, you can set out the dishes."

"Do you want me to try reaching for the paper plates?"

"Nah, you're good with the real stuff. It's not like it's fine china or anything." Clark added as they both stood up and followed his mother into the kitchen.

"I hate your barn."

"Oh you do not."

"I do too. You know why? There is no heat in a barn. There is nothing but horse stalls and the smell of manure and really cold winds. This sucks."

"You wanted to not be treated like an invalid," Clark countered, rummaging through the recesses underneath his work bench.

"Healthy individuals prefer not to freeze to death. That's how they stay healthy."

He shook his head, but kept pawing through whatever he kept down there. "It's thirty-eight degrees, which, I've been told is cold, but you've got my mom's alpaca sweater and her warmest down coat on. I think you're going to live."

"But I'll be uncomfortable while I'm living."

"You know, you don't normally whine this much."

"And we don't normally hang out in the loft in the dead of winter. This is why I make you visit me at the DP from November to March. We have heat and coffee. Granted, the coffee pretty much tastes like roofing tar, but at least it's warm."

"The coffee does not taste like roofing tar." Clark added, as he pulled out a large toolbox and set it down on the workbench's surface.

"Don't detract from my writer's hyperboles."

"No, I mean roofing tar tastes better."

"You were one strange little kid weren't you?"

"Come on, Chlo. All little kids eat weird things. I mean, name one first-grader who hasn't tried to drink Elmer's glue. They make it non-toxic for a reason."

"And yet they don't make roofing tar non-toxic for a reason. How did you even get your hands on that stuff?"

Clark sighed and started pulling out a few items from the box, including a cut down two-by-four and a large level. "My dad had it for some reason or another out here in the barn and I thought it looked sort of like melted chocolate so…"

"Eww."

"My mom freaked."

"Well it's not like you can get your stomach pumped."

He shrugged and locked up the toolbox, finally turning to face her. "It's not like it hurt and it's not like I tried it again. It wasn't pleasant but, you know, not poisonous either."

"Double eww. So did you eat paint chips as a kid because you know what happens with lead paint and little kids? I mean, 'Tommy Boy' is really a cautionary tale if you think about it."

"Ha." He furrowed his brow in concentration. "Actually I think I might have tried it once. Even if they don't kill me there are a lot of things I wouldn't eat again."

"Paint chips make the list?"

"White ones yeah, yellow ones not so much." He said, giving her one of his broad smiles.

Chloe laughed. "Well if they can flavor M&M's. Paint chips for Kryptonians—'melts in your mouth, not in your hand.' Somehow I don't see that catching on."

"Raya would have liked them." He added, his smile reaching the level that Chloe determined required one to wear sunglasses in order to protect oneself from the blinding whiteness of his teeth.

"Doubt that. She at least seemed smart."

"That hurts."

"Right. So," she added, frowning at the assortment of carpentry materials lying out on the table. "Why are we out here freezing my ass off again?"

"Practice."

"Oh come on. We've been practicing all day."

"And I thought you wanted to be back to the Planet as soon as possible. Perry practically has the articles he wants you to write lined up."

"He has to stage his coup d'etat of Pauline Kahn first and I have this terrible feeling she's immortal and all powerful, most evil soul suckers are."

"Ding dong the witch is dead." Clark added. "Seriously, I thought you were all about the obsessive-compulsive behaviors."

"I am not obsessive-compulsive."

"Excessively driven?"

"Am not."

"Bossy."

She shrugged. "Well there is that. I was editor for a reason you know."

"No one else in school wanted the job." He added, ducking when she threw a wad of hay at him. "Anyway, I thought it would be fun to practice."

"You have a warped definition of fun."

"Sorry we can't all spend our days in front of computer screens trying to beat our old times for hacking into the Smallville coroner's office."

"I only did that the one time."

"Still, practice---"

"Makes perfect." Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "Your dad owned a lot of page a day calendars, didn't he."

"Do you always have to interrupt?"

"That's Lois's job, I just like to cut to the chase for an obvious platitude."

"Well, if you'd rather go through all the mugs in the Talon Apartment and have to pay to replace them, be my guest. I've heard that can be rather expensive. Besides, I think Lois has some limited edition collectors glasses of eighties hair bands she ordered."

Chloe shivered at her cousin's lack of taste. "She does but there are things in our apartment I'm not allowed to touch, not would I want to. Still, if you've put all this thought into setting out an obstacle course, who am I to refuse?"

"Well I thought we could make a game out of it."

"Is there a prize involved?"

"Satisfaction of a job well-done."

"Farmers," Chloe said, shaking her head. "You just can't get more homespun. Anyway, is there a real prize?"

"Yeah, your million dollar jackpot is sitting on my desk." He shook his head. "I figured bragging rights would work for you. I've never seen anyone more competitive in my life."

"True. So bragging rights for what?"

"Who can break the most stuff."

She frowned. "Okay, so when did 'control' become synonymous with 'trash'?"

"It's not, but I wanted to see how strong you were and most of this stuff is either from older projects, like the remainder pieces of wood, or has already been replaced because it's just too old. Like that level actually doesn't have the little liquid drop in it anymore."

"What do they call that anyway?" She mused out loud.

"On topic, Chlo. I didn't know you had ADD until today."

"I don't but I have marvelous powers of deflection." Her frown deepened. "You know I can't dent most of this stuff. I mean that," she added, pointing to heavy wrench, "is solid metal."

"Uh-huh, just like you and ceramic are best friends now-a-days. Why didn't you tell me you could break stuff? I sort of thought what you could do was more aesthetic than anything else."

"'Aesthetic, huh?" Chloe said, smirking. "Someone's been reading in their off time."

"Well farm chores finish up eventually and we don't have cable or video games." He shook his head, "Darn it. No more of your tricks. I will concentrate."

"Maybe confusing people is one of my powers too."

He shook his head. "You know the rules: one meteor power to a customer with no return policy, besides you've always been able to confuse me. Anyway, I was in the middle of being offended that you didn't tell me everything."

"Pot, kettle much."

"Hey! I've been pretty open with you about my powers. Who does the late night snack runs?"

"You didn't tell me you could float." She defended.

"And since I can't actually prove that I can do it, I didn't want you to laugh at me."

"I wouldn't have laughed…much." She sighed. "I didn't tell you because I wasn't exactly sure what I saw. I told you everything happened at the alley pretty fast and by the time I realized something was different, it had all snapped back into place. Then I was too busy trying to placate Lana who, by the way, has really developed some observational skills in the last year or so."

"I think dating me upped her paranoia quotient."  
Chloe narrowed her eyes a little. "Maybe all the paranoia just rubbed off."

"Well, it's not paranoia if someone's actually out to get you."

"Like Lex." Chloe added quietly, casting a pall over their entire conversation. Absentmindedly, she scratched at her stomach. Clark reached for her shoulder and started to give it a squeeze, but she shook her head. "No, I'm good. If you touch me, I'm going to break down again and I'd really rather not do that. If I'm going to get over it, it's going to be because I put Lex away and not because of a round of group hugs. No offense."

"None taken," he added dropping his hand, but she could tell by the way he was shifting his weight from foot to foot that he was a little upset by being rebuffed.

"So, to make a long story short, I noticed that there were sort of finger indentations in the counter from where my hand had been but it's formica and from 1965, a fly could probably leave a dent in that cheap stuff. I didn't think too much of it. I mean, I suspected, but I couldn't prove anything."

He nodded. "Like me and the floating."

"Sort of. So a game, huh?"

"Yeah, like HORSE except with powers."

"Horse?" Chloe asked frowning.

"Sometimes I wish Pete were still here. You never played sports at all did you?"

"Gym class stuff for the one mandatory year. I have the field hockey knees to prove it, but I can't say I've ever heard of equine past times. How does it work?"

"Simple. I mean usually it's for basketball, but I figure we can adjust it. I do something and you try and duplicate it. If you fail, you get a letter and if you end up spelling out HORSE you lose."

"And this entertains boys? They spend hours trying to outdo each other with basketball moves to spell out barnyard animal names?" She shook her head. "Have I told you my 'men are simple' theory?"

"Often and loudly, especially after I manage to do something wrong. Anyway, now that the rules have been demystified---"

"Not that they were that complicated to begin with."

"Fine, I'll start." Clark said, picking up one of the two scraps of two-by-four and pressing it with his hand. It shattered into saw dust instantly.  
Chloe coughed and waved a hand in front of her face, trying to get the wood particles out of her eyes. "Do you mind? Some of us don't have invulnerable eyes."

"Sorry," he added, rummaging through the toolbox and handing her a pair of Jerry Lewis-style Nutty Professor glasses. "These would help."

"A world of no, just be more cautious, huh?" She said, closing her eyes and concentrating on her right hand. She knew next to nothing about sports or muscle control or any of that stuff but she figured since she was right handed, she'd have a little more strength there, not that she'd be able to keep up with Clark, but she really didn't want to lose either.

"Are you ready?" Clark asked when she'd opened her eyes again.

She looked down at her now crystalline hand and nodded. "Sure." He held up the board toward her and she couldn't resist adding, "Somehow I feel like you should just lay it across two cinderblocks and I could Karate chop it, instead." The same way she'd seen Lois do a few times when they'd been younger and her cousin had been so eager to show off her black belt skills.

Clark frowned. "I could do that if you really wanted me to."

She laughed a little. Sometimes her boy could be very literal. It was probably an earnest farmboy thing. "No, Mr. Miyagi, I'm good," she said, grabbing for the wood.

At first she held it in her hand and didn't apply any pressure. The part of her logical mind was still busy pointing out to her that there was no way this was going to work. It was also the part of her brain that reminded her how annoying splinters were.

"You know if you don't even try, I automatically win."

"I'm going, I'm just thinking about it first."

"Yeah smashing things takes a lot of thought."

"Obviously." She deadpanned. "That's probably why I'm the brains behind this operation." Taking a deep breath, she gave it a squeeze, just like it was one of those squishy stress balls at work. She actually had a habit of popping those. The wood creaked and exploded into a shower of saw dust which spread into her nose and throat making her cough.

"Cool." Then as an afterthought Clark added, "You probably should have taken the glasses though."

"Yeah, that would really protect my throat. Your turn." She said, putting the few remaining splinters on a bale of hay beside her.  
He nodded and reached for the level. The game continued like that for a while and after they had both had their turn crumpling the level, grinding a cinderblock into dust, and alternately straightening and unstraightening a screwdriver, Chloe was pleased to find that she hadn't even earned a letter.

Clark, on the other hand, looked distressed. She hadn't seen him frown that deeply since she beat him at scrabble the week he'd been on bed rest with his first cold. (Mrs. Kent was right about one thing. Clark made a terrible patient, she'd never heard him complain that much in his entire life, although he'd been complaining a lot more about her lack of free time since she'd started dating Jimmy. She still wasn't sure if his over-the-top levels of annoying had been because of the jealousy or the genuine dislike of being sick. Like normal people liked colds any better.) She grinned back at him. "So, the idea of the game is that you're supposed to find something I can't do, right?"

"I'm working on it." He grumbled.

"Oh don't tell me you're all upset because a girl's keeping up pace with you. That's a little chauvinist."

"It's not that you're a girl. I wouldn't want to lose to Pete either and I hate that Bart's faster than me."

"How much faster?"

"I see him blur the way you see me do, and I didn't even know that could be possible."

"Huh." She added, biting her lip, trying to do the math in her head about just how fast that must be. Her brain fizzled out quickly trying to compute it. "Okay, so you can't take the competition." She sing-songed.

"It's not competition."

She smirked at him. "It sure is. I bet you thought breaking cow-patterned coffee mugs was the extent of my superpowers."

"Did not." He said, grabbing the wrench on one end and crumpling the metal into a ball. "Your turn," he grumbled, practically flinging it at her.

"Very mature." She added, taking the other end and crumpling it just as thoroughly." So, she said, dropping the wrench at her feet and smirking wider, "What else do you got?"

Clark frowned and took a few deep breaths, mumbling to himself under his breath. Chloe couldn't hear exactly what he was repeating as his mantra but it sounded suspiciously like "must not kill Chloe." It made her giggle. Most people wouldn't want to annoy the most powerful guy on the planet, but she'd been making a game out of it since eighth grade and it still gave her a thrill. Suddenly, Clark brightened and blurred away. When he came back, he had a lump of coal in his hands.

"Wow, and December isn't even for ten more months although I was hoping I'd been good enough to get an actual present."

He handed her the coal. "You go first this time."

"You know if I press this, I'm just going to make it go poof and then I'm going to be coughing out coal dust."

"Do you want the glasses now?"

"Erm, no. I'm good," she added, turning her head away and pressing the coal into tiny particles. "Wow. That was really hard. Nice idea there."

He was grinning like he'd just won the freaking lottery, which really annoyed her because she had no idea how she'd managed to lose.

"Watch this," Clark said with that same stupid tone he got when she'd caught him showing off on the football field to some of the junior varsity team. Some parts of her job as editor she'd loved. Being forced to write puff pieces during the crows' spectacular miracle season had not been one of them. In fact, on principle she tried delegating jock strap pieces to her minions. He stood there and concentrated for a few minutes and Chloe was confused by the lack of coal dust. When Clark finally opened his hand, the lump was smaller and the particles looser, but it was still intact.

Chloe tilted her head. "Does this mean I win?"

His stupid grin broadened and then he blew on the coal. The dust in his hand spread out in the air making her cough again. When she finally recovered, she gasped at what was left in his palm---a good-sized, uncut diamond.

"Oh crap."

"That's an 'H.'"

"Oh my god." Chloe said, grabbing the diamond out of his hand and holding it up in front of her face for closer inspection. "You made a diamond."

"Uh-huh." Could his grin get any wider?

"You know how many millions of years of pressure and like tectonic movement it takes to make these things and in thirty seconds you made a diamond."

He nodded. "I think I win."

"Yeah, I'm going to give that to you." She frowned at him. "How'd you know you could do that?"

"Well I might have made one for Lana's engagement ring that one time. It's not like I could afford to go down to Smallville jewelers or anything."

"So, Lana gets a diamond for your non-engagement and for my birthday you got me a thesaurus."

"It was leather bound and everything," He defended. "Plus it was part of a set with the equally leather bound dictionary. I thought it would look all professional on your desk at work."

"How come I never get a diamond?"

He blinked. "Um, I didn't know you wanted one."

"Well it is uncut and I'd prefer a blue one like the Hope because it's just cooler, but you can't seriously show a girl this and expect her not to get a little jealous." She frowned and punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey!" He said, rubbing his arm. "That hurts."

"Not enough. You could have made me a diamond for Valentine's Day and you gave me a box of chocolates with the Shelby teeth marks of approval?" She was glaring at him and he'd taken a step back from her. He was scared of her. Cool.

"Um, yeah."

"Good thing your birthday's coming up next. I'm sure I can find something that shows the same kind of thought and effort you put into my gifts."

"Technically, it really doesn't take that much effort," he said as he put away the toolbox and started heading for the barn doors. "I mean, you can keep that one if you want."

"Gee thanks." She shook her head and handed it back to him. "I'm not that materialistic. It would just be nice to have been offered. Besides, why don't you pawn it or something? If you could make a steady stream of these things, the farm would never be in debt."

He shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "It'd never work. People would start wondering where I 'found' all these diamonds in the middle of a Kansas farm. It'd be too suspicious."  
"Well, you know, if the superheroing biz ever gets too boring, you can always put De Beers out of business."

"Offering to be my business manager?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"No, but if you become legitimate enough, I'll talk the Planet into giving you discount advertisement space."

"Thanks," he said, chuckling.

"Just remember," she said, stepping carefully through the thick snow and mud in his front yard. "My birthday is only nine months away, so if you wanted to get me a diamond, I'd understand."

"What about an even better dictionary set?" 

"Don't make me hit you."

"Okay, how about a really small and modest diamond so no one figures out I can just make them."

"Works for me."

"Now you have to think up something for my birthday and I'm thinking something more than cancelled I.O.U.'s this year."

"Ooh, I can make your cake this year since we're going for a handmade kind of theme."

"Can we not?" He added, hopefully.

"Well you can at least cut into mine with a knife."

"That's a ringing endorsement."

She rolled her eyes as they stepped up onto the porch. He opened the door for her and she crossed over the threshold and turned to look back at him. "Of course maybe Lois could take me shopping. She found some pretty nice things for Oliver when they were heading to Monty Carlo."

Clark gulped and even in the dark she could see his cheeks flare crimson. Double cool. "Ah…that could be good." He squeaked out. "Just not in green, though."

"Like I would ever do that. I'm thinking of something slinky and black." She added, letting the screen door slam shut behind her and giggling as Clark spluttered to himself on the porch.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	4. Chapter 4

**With Silver Bells and Cockleshells and Pretty Maids All in a Row**

"Really? Are you sure?" Clark paced around the kitchen floor, almost tripping over his feet when the phone's cord pulled taught. "Well, yeah I understand. Do you need anything from me? Well no, I can't do that," He groused at the reminder of just how much faster Bart was than he. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, it's fine, just as soon as you can let us know when you're leaving. Right, take care." He finished, putting the receiver gently back on the hook.

He turned back to the counter and shook his head when he realized he'd managed to tangle himself in the damn cord. To add insult to injury, Chloe was leaning against one of the kitchen's wooden pillars, chuckling at him.

Arching an eyebrow, she asked, "Having problems?"

He glared at her as he extricated himself from the cord, cursing quietly to himself when the plastic cord crunched a little in his grasp. It had had a bad week and probably was due for replacement anyway. "No."

"Right." She laughed a little bit more and then frowned at the phone. "Why haven't you guys updated your phone for the 1990s?"

"Expenses mostly. We've replaced a lot of things over the years and the phone never seemed like much of a priority. Besides, I think mom has a thing for the old-fashioned stuff."

"Maybe I should be glad you even have a cell, let alone a non-rotary phone," Chloe deadpanned. "So, was that Mr. White again? Perhaps you've found a way for me never to go back to work." Her words were glib but her tone was slightly bitter.

Clark sighed and shook his head. "You'll be able to go back to work in a week or so. You've already gotten so much better at controlling everything."

"Which is of the good. It's a relief to know that the coffee mugs in the staff lounge are safe from me."

He nodded. "Yeah, not to mention the sofa, although by the looks of that thing, maybe it would be better if you just crushed the armrest and put it out of its misery."

Chloe stood up and walked over to the kitchen island, leaning over it towards him. "No one's getting rid of Mabel. She has a few good years left in her and I don't think there's a sofa more comfortable in all of Metropolis."

"Well not since 1978." Clark riposted.

"Matches your corded phone." She answered back. "So, if it wasn't Mr. White, I assume that it must have been Oliver."

"Victor, actually, but the Justice Bros have just been in touch."

"You still aren't going to call them that are you?"

He shrugged. "It suits besides Bart thinks it's funny."

"You two are obviously over impressed with your comedic gifts." She shook her head, "Besides, if I'm signing on for more than just Watchtower duties----which didn't exactly suck the first time around, don't get me wrong---but now that I'm going to be an active member, I think a name that wasn't male-based would be better."

"Justice Bros plus one?" Clark suggested, easily catching the dish towel she hurled at him. "You still throw like a girl."

"Funny. So what did Victor have to say for himself?"

"Oliver and A.C. were out running reconnaissance on the installation they'd taken out in Cairo and found out there was a second satellite site Lex was keeping hidden. It's going to take the guys a couple of days to do the final clean-up."

"So no reunion? No jaunty group hug today?"

"Not so much, although Victor offered to send Bart right over. Apparently, he's been begging Ollie for leave to come see you. I bet they won't be able to keep him in Egypt the rest of the week."

Chloe frowned. "Well I know that if I could run anywhere in the world, I'd pop in on a sick friend."

"Not-so-subtle crush," Clark corrected.

"Jealous much?"

"No," Off her glare he added, "well maybe a little."

"So what makes you more jealous: the fact that you might have a little competition for my affections or the fact that he's so much faster than you?"

Like she had to be so darn happy about it. She practically sing-songed that last part. "He's not that much faster."

"Can you run across water?"

"Well it's not like he can rip through steel or set things on fire just by looking at them or fly."

"That's real mature. I'm sure all of you can have a power-off when they get into town. Maybe David Bowie will be available to judge. Anyway, it's not like you can fly yet."

"It's a technicality. I bet once I get started, I'll be able to get from here to Cairo a lot faster than Bart."

"Oh god," Chloe moaned, shaking her head. "It's going to be terrible with all five of you together. I swear you're all like little kids."

"We are not."

"The rushing off to get captured is always a nice touch. It's kind of a wonder the five of you hadn't been caught earlier. Discretion is not exactly Oliver's strong point."

"Too much leather. Besides, it's not an 'us' thing. I was all about the getting into the Ridge Facility and getting Bart back out."

"And the walking straight into the meteor rock refinement area was a complete accident. Do you ever use the X-ray vision?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Clark decided Chloe was milking her condition for all it was worth. She didn't usually ride him this hard and she probably wouldn't take so much joy out of ragging on him now, if the stress hadn't built up in her life to epic proportions. Still, that was okay. He could restrain himself from killing Chloe for a few more days. "Well, it didn't work with that room."

"Hence lead, hence something dangerous and radioactive."

"Well it could have been plutonium."

"Yeah, that's likely. I'm sure Lex's next evil scheme involves a Delorean. Why didn't we think of it before?"

Chloe was able to say Lex's name without shivering or shutting down for a few seconds. It was progress. "Alright, so that running off without thinking things through thing may not be the best superhero tactic."

"That's why you five need me. Someone has to be the brains behind the operation or at least the voice of reason that reminds all you guys that running off half-cocked," she grinned lasciviously when she said the word, "isn't a winning plan."

"You want control? Fine by me. I'd love to see you and Oliver go at it. I've never seen someone who thinks he's right a hundred percent of the time. Besides, he thinks I'm lazy. I haven't seen Oliver stop a whole freaking apocalypse."

Chloe patted his hand sympathetically. I keep telling you, if you want the credit for the save, people have to know about it. Still, that running off habit you have is terrible."

"Well the leaping before looking part sure is. I'll admit that. And I know I've been zipping off a lot on you lately haven't I?" He asked, wincing when he remembered just dumping her at the detective's office and then a week later in the middle of the search party.

She shrugged. "It's okay. Most of the time the sidekick slows the hero down. Of course the other five percent of the time the sidekick keeps our fine hero from impaling himself on windmills."

"Huh?" He asked, blinking.

"Don Quixote?"

"With the panda?"

"One Saturday morning cartoon show and classic literature is never the same. I bet Candide never runs into that problem. So," she added, walking around the counter and placing a warm hand on his shoulder. "Since the boys aren't back in town, what else do you have in mind?"

"You know, when I suggested alternative Saturday plans, freezing to death in the Arctic really wasn't on my list of options." Chloe was standing in the middle of the Fortress, her arms wrapped tightly over her chest and her teeth chattering.

"Oh it is not that bad." Clark said.

"Born on an ice planet." She answered through gritted teeth.

"Wearing a down parka with gloves."

She rolled her eyes. "I know you don't actually feel the cold but here's the thing with coats, they just let you feel less cold. In the Arctic, I can still feel my cheeks go numb."

"You're exaggerating."

"A little," she offered, letting her arms fall to her sides. "Still, I don't see what we could be doing at the Fortress that's so great or that we couldn't do, you know, at the other Fortress."

"You said yesterday that you hated the barn."

"But I like comfy indoors with heat. Hell, we could have gone to The Talon. I don't think His Baldness is going to snatch me drinking coffee in front of two dozen witnesses. At least Lex's methodical side is working for me on that one."

Clark sighed and wrapped his arms around Chloe. She stiffened at first and then leaned back into his hug. "You don't have to worry about him."

She looked up at him and smirked. "Are you going to rip his arms off for me?"

"I could, although when Oliver and Company get into town there might be a contest to see who can beat Lex senseless first."

"Or I could just pummel him myself." Chloe added, flexing her right hand and smiling as it flickered and then crystallized. "But that lacks the fun of watching an expose cripple his business and land him in jail. I don't think parking cone orange is going to look as good on him as all that purple."

"But we could pummel him first." He argued, hugging her a little tighter. Normally, despite his hobby of stopping meteor mutants and Phantom Zone escapees, Clark wasn't a violent guy and he never deliberately thought about hurting humans. Right there was a slippery slope he couldn't afford to start skidding down. Of course, no other human had strapped his best friend to a fucking lab table and jabbed her with needles while she cried. He'd never felt sicker in his entire life than when he'd burst into the lab to rescue Chloe. Meteor rocks twisted his stomach, but the sight of her helpless like a lab rat had twisted something so much deeper inside him. Funny. He'd always thought that his worst fear was being on that table. He never thought that seeing someone hurt Chloe could scare him worse. But it had.

"Hey," Chloe added, squeezing his shoulder. "Lighten up a little on the anaconda squeeze. I'm not going anywhere."

Clark smiled a little down at her. She knew exactly what he'd been thinking, always had a way of figuring him out. "No, you're not."

"That a promise?"

"Definitely."

"Good, so now that we've had the tender moment, can I stop freezing? I'm sure there's something on cable."

His grin widened. "I have a better idea," he said as he blurred around her.

Chloe blinked for a second trying to process what he done and then she looked down at herself and yelped. "You stole my coat and sweater!"

Clark grinned back at her, her puffy parka and woolen scarf dangling from his right hand. "I did."

"Masochist. Give them back!" Chloe demanded, lunging for him.

He zipped past her easily and stood off to the side of the Fortress. "I don't think so."

"You don't think so. Clark! I'm going to freeze to death in just my t-shirt." She yelled, lunging for him again, her skin already rippling with goosebumps. He stood his ground this time, but held her winter wardrobe high above her head. She jumped up and down a few times but then stopped to glare up at him. "Give me back my coat."

"Huh-uh." He said, nodding his head. "I have a theory."

"You have a theory. Can you just have an apple fall on your head, call it a theory, and let me go back to not dying of hypothermia."

"Chloe, calm down for a second. You know I'm not going to let you freeze to death, but I'm trying to figure something out."

"Which suspiciously looks a lot like torturing me."

"Just stop for a second. Stand perfectly still."

"If I stand still I freeze faster." She grumped, her teeth chattering loudly.

"Chloe," he added, putting his right hand on her shoulder. "Close your eyes."

"Great," she said, shutting her eyelids. "At least now I don't have to watch myself freeze to death."

"Are you still cold?"

"Do you see the goosebumps?"

"Okay, stupid question." He said, rubbing her shoulder. "Can you imagine feeling warm?"

"I'm imaging a nice warm fire back at your house with s'mores and hot cocoa and you stuck outside while Shelby, me, and your mom enjoy ourselves."

Ignoring her crack, Clark continued, "Can you feel the warmth then? Except instead of coming from the hearth, it's like it's coming from inside of you, bubbling right up and all over, starting from your chest and working its way down to your finger tips and toes."

"Stupid meditating techniques. Whoever got you addicted to far eastern philosophy should be shot."

"Chlo, just do this one thing and then I'll give you back your coat and run you all the way to Costa Rica."

"Fine." She said, mumbling something under her breath about crazy masochistic alien boyfriends. Calming, Chloe took a deep breath and gradually her teeth stopped chattering and her skin grew rosy and warm. "Hey, it is warmer."

She started to open her eyes but he put his hands over her face to stop her. "Just a little bit more. You feel warmer now, right?"

"Yeah, you aren't heat visioning me, are you?"

Clark couldn't restrain a shiver of his own. He was never going to use his heat vision on Chloe again, no matter what. He wouldn't hurt her like that twice. Taking a deep breath he added, "No, I'm not."

Chloe frowned but kept concentrating and Clark watched as the changes spread across her skin. First it was just her left hand that changed, growing hard and translucent, twinkling in the light of the Fortress just like the ice and crystals around them. But the changes didn't stop at her wrist as they had with all their practice back at the barn, instead the skin of her arms turned blue and then clear, casing over and glittering like diamonds. The change kept going like a wave, up her arms, over her chest and neck, and finally working its way across the skin of her face. In a few seconds Chloe was standing there in front of him and she looked like she'd been carved straight out of the ice in his Fortress or like the crystal angel they'd had on top of the Christmas tree until he was eight.

Then there'd been an "accident."

But nothing was going to shatter Chloe.

"Alright, Chlo, open your eyes." Clark said, unable to restrain his grin. Eyelids springing open, she looked up at him, her eyes shining like emeralds. "Wow."

"Wow, Chloe didn't freeze to death. Yes, let's all be in awe of that." She deadpanned. "Well now we've established a side freak ability to not freeze to death. Can we go home now?"

"One sec," Clark said, zipping home and back faster than Chloe could see. When he popped back into the Fortress, he had his bathroom mirror with him.

She glared and her eyes shone an incandescent green. "So you get to go home and I don't? So not fair." Then she stopped and gasped as Clark held up the mirror for her to look into. "Oh. My. God."

She reached up and ran her fingers over her face, staring at the mirror and then back at him. It was hard to read the expression in her eyes, but as Clark reached back towards her chin, she flinched for just a second.

He moved faster than she could avoid and cupped her chin with his hand. "You don't have to freak out. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, you're the one holding the key. It would be a real bad idea for me to leave you here."

"Cute." Chloe said, leaning into his touch. Just as before, Clark felt something akin to an electric jolt spreading through him from where they touched. "Things have a way of just snowballing in the Twilight Zone, don't they?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, just when I think my life couldn't get any weirder, oh alien best friend of mine, I get a meteor ability. And when I think that my power couldn't get any more freakish, I end up looking like I should be adorning the table at a thousand-dollar-a-plate dinner in between the obligatory swan ice sculpture and the mermaid."

"I think it's beautiful."

"You would," Chloe sniffed, leaning further into his touch.

He sighed but didn't press it. She'd get used to everything, just like he had. Of course, the raging complexes and insecurity tended to go along with the adjustment process, but at least she knew she had someone who loved her no matter what. That helped.

He dropped his arm again and gripped her hand, pulling her to a corner of the Fortress. "I want to show you something."

"You bring all your shape-shifting girlfriends to this corner of the Fortress or am I special?"

"Cute." He said, placing a hand over her eyes and steering her gently behind one of the larger sheets of ice in the Fortress. Steadying her shoulders, he removed his hand from over her face. "You can open your eyes again."

"Gee, thanks. You should have just brought a blindfold up with us for all the time I've spent with my eyes shut," she added, looking up at them and then at the sight before them. "Oh wow."

Clark grinned and walked into the field before them. It was a patch in the Fortress floor covered with crystals of all cuts and colors, a pitch of gems that glowed and glittered like sapphires, amethysts, and peridot. "Pretty, huh?"

Chloe ran her hand over a stalk of pale pink quartz. The color shone through the translucence of her own hand and spread in swirls across the back of her hand. "It's beautiful." Keeping her hand wrapped around the gem, she turned back to him. "How long has this been here?"

"Since the beginning. I just hadn't noticed it before what with rushing you to the hospital and trying not to be killed by Fine."

"So when did you?"

He frowned and made his way to the farthest left corner of the field, waiting patiently for Chloe to join him. When she did, he pointed to a risen mound in the field, covered with a thick assortment of smooth crystals that gleamed like opals. "I had some extra time here."

"Why is it raised?"

"I…there had to be a place to put Raya and I thought that here would be better than taking her back to the caves, since, you know it was like home. For her," he added, as if Chloe was going to confuse Kansas and Krypton. "The Fortress is so large and I'd never had time to see all the corners, but Jor-El…he suggested this place."

"It's really nice. I'm sure she would have appreciated it." Chloe said, kneeling down and running a hand over the rise. She shivered a little when she did it, an odd sort of flush spreading across her cheeks, making them glow like quartz.

Clark shrugged and kneeled next to her. There wasn't much to say. He didn't visit the Fortress much. He wasn't actually mad at Jor-El anymore, but their relationship was still beyond strained. Clark couldn't begin his training until he rounded up the last of the Phantom Zone escapees, and despite all its resources the A.I. couldn't locate them. As a result, his sporadic trips to the Fortress just served to remind him of all his failings, of all the things he couldn't make right. Seeing Raya's grave just made the point even more obvious.

"I guess. She might have liked it if I taken her home to the back forty. She wasn't here very long, but she really loved Earth."

A surprisingly strong hand wrapped over his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He nodded and stood back up, not looking at her for a few seconds, giving him time to compose himself. "I know." Then he turned and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I couldn't keep her safe, but I'm trying to do better this time around."

"You're off to a really good start, especially with the dramatic rescues. That's a big plus. Besides," she added, smiling up at him and flexing her right hand. "I think I can protect myself. I'm not one for damseling."

He nodded and gave her a kiss on the forehead, shivering when another jolt of energy spread up from where his lips were pressed against her skin. Pulling back, he asked, "Do you feel that?"

She nodded. "I feel that whenever I touch you when I'm…" she trailed off, making a vague gesture with her hands.

"Like that."

"Yeah, but it's weird because I feel that same kind of thrumming here, especially when I was touching the different crystals."

"That's what I thought."

She frowned at him. "'You thought'? First the coat disappearing act with the certainty that I'd shift before freezing to death and then the magical, mystical, tour through crystal fields. Spill."

"Spill?" He asked, shuffling his feet.

She sighed. "I don't know why you bother to play coy with me. It never works. You've been working off a theory all night which would be…"

"I think I figured out what your power is."

"Well, duh." Chloe said, holding out her arm. "It's this nifty shifting trick which allows me to do everything short of making diamonds and keeps me warm in Arctic temperatures."

"Obviously, but I think I've figured out what you're made of." He said, gesturing to the field in front of them.

Her eyes widened, comically large emeralds glittering up at him. "So, I'm Kryptonite?"

"Kryptonian crystal. There is a difference, I think. I mean, I always figured the Kryptonite's not supposed to do that to me but traveling through all that space radiation probably wasn't so good for it. Irradiation and all that."

"Or maybe the special shiny green and ruby red types are noxious surprises back on Krypton as well. It's not like humans are supposed to go around playing with uranium."

He nodded. "Fair enough, but I think that's what you are. That would explain the strength part of it and the---"

"Humming?" Chloe offered.

"Exactly. I, um, don't really know how any of this stuff works but all the technology is crystal-based and when I used to touch the elements back when I was still looking for them or whenever I touch the console I get the same feeling."

Chloe smirked at him. "Something tells me using computers on Krypton was a whole lot more pleasurable than using them here."

He rolled his eyes. "Visuals, Chlo."

"Well it's not like people don't get a certain stimulation from using the computer here." She laughed a little then sobered. "But man, that energy…connection…whatever. It's so intense."

"I know."

"Really?"

"Well there's a hum with the other crystals but it's not nearly as strong."

"So is that because I'm larger or because I'm special?" She asked, her face scrunched up in genuine confusion.

"I think it's a mix of factors," Clark added, sidling up next to her and leaning down to kiss her. The energy exploded through them both again, thrumming underneath his skin, warming his limbs, and making his head swim.

"Whoa," Chloe added, smiling at him and trying to pull him down for a second kiss.

"I'd like to see Bart do that." Clark sniffed, not quite letting her pull him down.

"Maybe Jimmy could. I mean, that was nice, but I've had better."

"You have not. Besides, I can do better," he said, leaning into her.

"Prove it, Kent."

And that's exactly what he did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Awkward Factor 8**

Chloe's fist, curled and crystallized, slammed full speed into the door. Actually, it would have slammed full speed into the door if a certain best friend hadn't snatched her hand out of the air and restrained her. Superspeed was such an unfair advantage.

"Damn it!" Chloe said, spinning on her heels and turning to face him. "Why'd you stop me?" Clark wrapped his right hand around her fist and she ignored the feeling of warmth the contact gave her. She wasn't going to be placated right now. Shifting her hand back, she glowered harder at him. "Seriously, what's your problem?"

Clark sighed and dropped her hand when she tugged it back. "You can't just slam through the door."

"It's my door!"

"Technically the door is property of The Talon, which of course it property of Lex Luthor."

Chloe turned back and ripped the official notice from the door and shoved it in Clark's face, as if his eyesight weren't beyond perfect. "I know that my apartment is property of Lex Luthor. The eviction notice he signed was a pretty good indicator."

"Well it's not like you were going to go back to living here."

She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "You can't keep me locked up on the farm forever."

He put his hands on his hips, mirroring her pose. "I don't care if you moved in with Jimmy Olsen. Be as independent as you wanna be. There was just no way that staying here is going to be a good idea."

"Still the part of my day where they boxed up all my stuff and padlocked the door to my apartment sucks. Not to mention that they've kicked out my cousin out too. I mean, damn it, she's going to kill me when she gets back from Geneva."

"I think Lois is low on your list of things to worry about." Clark relaxed his pose and tilted his head toward her. "What are you going to tell her when she gets back? And your dad?"

Chloe bit her lip and looked down. This wasn't a conversation she was ready to have yet. Luck had intervened on her behalf aside from being a meteor fr…mutant, that is. Her dad was in Toronto on a ten day business trip and Lois was visiting Lucy and the General in Europe. She didn't know what she was going to tell her family. Clark was lucky in that way. His parents had found him and knew he was different when they took him in. She was pretty sure her dad wasn't going to put her out on the street for being a mutant. Alright, she knew he loved her deeply but no one usually signed up for taking care of a kid with such "special needs."

Clark waved a hand in front of her face to draw back her attention. "Chlo?"

"Sorry…I…it's just I don't know how to tell Lois and dad about this yet. I mean, at least Lois is used to the Smallville weird by now. Even after six years in this leafy little hamlet, dad never figured out that this town has more than it's fair share of things that go bump in the night."

"And the day." He smiled a crooked little half smile at her. "Don't worry about your dad. When he gets back to Kansas, I'm sure mom will be happy to run interference. Hey, if we give her enough time we can even have her make up a little brochure about dealing with a super-powered kid." She blanched at him and he added, "She's been very civic minded lately."

"Your mom would do that for me because, I gotta tell you, if she starts offering paranormal parenting tips, I think my dad's going to figure out that you're 'special' too."

He shrugged and lowered his voice a little, always cautious. "We don't have to reveal anything about me not being from around here. I mean, meteor mutants in this town are a dime a dozen."

She grinned up at him and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "Cliché! You owe me a cappuccino, more wet than dry, by the way."

"Damn." He frowned. "So about your stuff? Do you want me to just break in and drag it back to the farm?"

"So you can break and enter, but I can't? Double standard much, not to mention the fact that I can pick and credit card locks like no one's business."

"It was just an offer. I'm sure if you talked things over with Lana or something, she could swing it so you could at least get your stuff back."

Chloe tapped her heels and glanced down at her watch. "And this is where the trouble starts. I was coming here not just to grab a change of underwear," she grinned as Clark blushed a bright scarlet. He did that more often than any guy she knew; maybe it was a Kryptonian thing. At either rate, it was very cute. "I was supposed to grab my bridesmaid dress for the fitting this afternoon."

"Fitting?" Clark squeaked. "You were going to the Luthor Mansion?"

"Clark, I can't just drop out of the wedding. I promised her, besides it's not like she'll buy the standard argument that Lex is evil incarnate. She has her head so far deep down in the sand that nothing will drag her out of it."

"I know." He frowned. "When is the fitting?"

"An hour. Now," she added, dragging out her credit card. "Are we going to do this the skillful way or are you into a smash and grab mood?"

"Just get to it, Houdini. Knowing Lex, he'd probably just charge you for property damage."

"Bastard."

There was no way to describe how unbelievably awkward it was sitting on the four poster bed in Lana's bedroom, bedecked in a violet taffeta dress, with Clark practically sitting on her lap, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. In fact, his grip was so tight that if she were anyone else, he'd probably be cutting off some serious circulation.

Lana was not happy to say the least. In fact, she looked about a hundred times more upset that she had when Rebel Without a Cause Clark had stormed into her engagement party and announced to all of Metropolis high society that she hadn't yet figured out the intricacies of birth control. Though, to be honest, Chloe wasn't sure what was making Lana more angry: the fact that Clark was interrupting wedding plans yet again or that he was all over her. Even though Lana had never been the jealous type before, Chloe had a sinking suspicion it was the latter.

"Clark, Chloe." Lana said as she entered the room, her tailor trailing behind her. "I didn't expect to see both of you here."

Translation: I don't want Clark in the same state as my fairy tale wedding preparations.

"Yeah," she said, trying to shift a little in Clark's grasp and failing. She was getting a real appreciation lately for those poor South American monkeys getting caught up in anaconda squeezes. Yeesh. "Um, well, I sort of have this flu and Clark's been looking out for me and he wanted to come along."

Lana's eyes narrowed first at her and then at Clark, who, clueless as ever, still didn't take the hint to at least loosen his grip. Hell, if he was going to insist on playing bodyguard, he could at least do it standing quietly in a corner. "I see."

She turned back to the tailor and spoke a terse command in French. The little man bowed and showed himself out of the room and Chloe had to remind herself not to stare at the other girl. Bowling bachelorette party aside, Lana really was assimilating quite nicely into the Luthor lifestyle: the trip to Amsterdam, the shopping for custom made gowns in Paris, the casual indifference to being able to order around servants. She was becoming more of a Metropolis girl than Chloe (or even Martha Kent) had ever been.

"Yeah," Clark added when Chloe cast a glare in his direction. "I'm sorry. We should have called to make sure everything was okay before hand, especially with the, um---"

"The way you abducted me two weeks ago and tried to murder the man I'm about to marry."

"You can imagine the fun time we had trying to talk our way through the guards," Chloe deadpanned. Of course, to be fair, Luthor security was terrible. She'd made up some lame excuse about Clark coming around for a formal apology at Lana's request and the guard on duty had bought it. It probably hadn't hurt that she'd been leaning over the guard's station when she said it and that the front of her dress was low cut. Men were pretty simple most of the time. Still, the crappy Luthor security never ceased to amaze her. As far as she could tell, Ollie had state of the art alarms installed in his penthouse and the rumors surrounding the Wayne family were legendary. Everyone swore, the editor of the Gotham Gazette included, that the silver-haired butler (and now the ersatz trustee of the estate) was actually retired MI-6. Maybe Lionel intentionally hired only morons as some way to prove he and his heir were still street tough Suicide Slums at heart.

At either rate, Clark and she had pretty free range of the mansion until Lana came in.

"Well we'll have to update the list on who's allowed in the mansion and who isn't." She replied, glaring at Clark. "I'm still not quite sure how you managed to barge into the party in the first place…"

"Lois and I sort of sneaked through the bars." He supplied.

"Whatever." She turned back to Chloe. "I don't think we can do the final fitting today, but I guess that's alright since it looks like the dress fits just fine."

Chloe looked down, following Lana's gaze and realized just how good the view was of her assets. Of course Clark, despite his overprotective zeal, hadn't failed to notice it either. Great, like her public ogling was going to thaw Lana out any more. She yanked ineffectually at the straps of her dress and pulled it back higher. She was pretty sure that she'd imagined the groan of disappointment Clark uttered. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Chloe elbowed Clark pretty hard in the stomach and he finally took the hint, untangling himself from her and scrambling a few feet over on the bed. "Really because I know the wedding is only in a week and there must be a million other things you have to do and I don't want this to be another worry."

"It's fine, but I don't want to chase you all off. I actually had a few things I wanted to talk about first."

"Look if it's about the fact that Clark's developed boundary issues, I'm really sorry about that," Chloe said, glaring at him and then turning back to Lana. "It's been a really bad cold and I think I had him freaked out. I mean, I even missed work at the Planet."

"That's pretty sick." Lana conceded, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. "Still, it's probably best that you're both here because I had a few questions I needed to ask."

"If it's whether we'd prefer chicken or fish at the reception, I'm going with chicken. Every time I think of fish in this mutated little burg I get visions of the three eyed flounder from The Simpsons." Chloe said.

"He's coming?" Lana asked, cool anger coloring her words.

"Yeah," Clark added, pulling at the pockets of his red jacket. "Lex invited me last week. He said he wanted me there." He couldn't quite manage to keep the bitterness out of his voice and it made Chloe's heart ache. Despite everything they'd been through together in the last five days---God, had it only been that long since the bachelorette party?---Lana still had some inexplicable hold over him. Seeing her marry his greatest enemy was probably high on his list of worst possible torture scenarios. Of course, maybe part of it was the fact that the last two times around, Clark had been the best man at Lex's weddings.

How things changed.

Absentmindedly, Chloe reached out and took his hand, subtly shifting just the palm of her right hand so that Clark could feel the supporting warmth of her touch. "We're both going of course. I need a stand-in since Jimmy's been officially black-listed." Clark's gripped on her hand tensed a little bit and she was perversely relieved to see that the jealousy went both ways.

Lana nodded. "I understand, but I swear if you show up on something again, I will never forgive you."

Which begged the question that if this warm and fuzzy act Lana was giving them now was her version of forgiveness. Chloe wasn't surprised. Lana was always one to hold a grudge and to jump to the wrong conclusion, certain DP gossip column fiascos came to mind.

Clark nodded back. "I won't." He gave Chloe's hand a much more gentle squeeze and a quick smile. "I'm working on this whole moving on angle."

"That's great." Lana said, giving a tight smile, and again Chloe had to wonder if Lana was jealous, which made no sense since she was about to marry Lex, which tended to indicate a lifelong commitment to him. Of course, maybe Lana wasn't in love with Clark anymore. Maybe she was just in love with the idea of being wanted.

"So," Chloe said, breaking the tension. "This taffeta just isn't going to get anymore comfortable so if you have any questions just shoot."

Lana said nothing at first, but walked over to her dressing table bureau and pulled out a thing gold chain. The instant she did, Chloe could feel the slightest low level hum working its way through her skin, but the odd part was that it was starting from her chest and not from where her hand was clasping Clark's. She frowned up at him but he continued staring at Lana blankly. Apparently he wasn't feeling it.

When Lana turned around to face them, she could see the chain more clearly and the piece of meteor rock dangling from it. It looked like the macabre good luck charm Lana had worn around her neck every day of eighth grade, except that charm had been made of green Kryptonite. This one was clear.

Clark's hand tensed in hers and she realized that he recognized it too.

"I found this when I was hiding out at the farm. The last time I saw it, Tina Greer had stolen it from Whitney. Also, it was still green." She stepped over to the bed and held it out for Clark to see, letting him take the chain in his hands. "What happened to it?"

"Um, I don't know." Clark answered, looking at a patch of paneling off to his left shoulder.

Chloe stifled the urge to roll her eyes. He was the worst liar she had ever met. It was a freaking miracle that the entire continental United States didn't know he had superpowers. With the advent of cellphone cameras and YouTube plus his lame excuses, he should have been a regular celebrity by now.

Always the one to the rescue, Chloe butted in with, "It's possible Tina did something to it. I mean, if she was meteor infected then something in her mutation might have interacted with the stone, causing the change. I mean, it's not too weird that Clark has it. He was the last person to see Tina alive. The keeping it's a little odd, I'll grant you, but he probably didn't want to upset you further by giving you back your ruined favorite possession. Isn't that right, Clark?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Um, yeah."

The boy needed an acting coach stat.

Lana glared harder at them both and yanked back her necklace. "I'm getting really sick of this elephant in the room between us. I know that Clark's hiding something and that you're covering for him and you guys both know that I know that. Not to mention the fact that last week he threw Lex across the room with one hand and shoved him through a wall without any effort."

"Clark's experimentation with PCP was short but powerful," Chloe deadpanned. At least watching Buffy was good for something. If PCP could explain away vamp strength why not Kryptonian strength as well? 

"I might buy that argument or that stupid adrenaline one if I hadn't watched Lex stab Clark with a chisel."

Chloe shot Clark a quick glance and was relieved when he caught her drift. Lifting up his shirt, he revealed the smooth expanse of his torso. "If I'd been stabbed, don't you think there'd be a mark, or stitches, or something else? Come on, Lana."

"There's no bullet scar either." She pointed out and Chloe could barely restrain herself from slapping her forehead in a duh moment. "Look, just stop lying. I had the chisel. I saw how damaged it was. You couldn't do that by slamming it into a brick wall. I don't know how this all adds up, not exactly, but I'm leaning toward meteor freak."

Chloe tensed at the phrase, which was stupid sense she'd been the one to coin it. Noticing her distress, Clark slid across the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about Lana."

"Tobias said you weren't one, but if you're not, then none of this makes any sense."

"When did you talk to Tobias?" Clark asked. "The night that his doctor was killed, I went over to his house so I could help move him over to Star City. Oliver was going to set up a cornea transplant for him, but he'd vanished."

"Lex arranged for his treatment first. I went to pick him up myself."

"And you didn't get the answer you wanted to hear." Chloe finished for Lana. "Sometimes there isn't a greater mystery. I mean, not to Scully you or anything but maybe what you see really is what you get. Not everyone in Smallville is meteor-infected."

"But a lot of people are." Lana said, staring at them both with the same intensity that Lex's scientists had stared at her with while she was on the table.

"Well I'm not." Clark finished. "And I don't know why you'd sneak around behind my back and steal from my house but whatever you think you're looking for, it's not there." He stood up and looked down at Chloe. "Are you coming? I think we're through here."

"Or until we get to see the exchange of wedded bliss." She added. "Yeah, I think I'm good." She turned back to look at Lana. "I'll come by tomorrow with Mrs. Kent if you need some more fitting stuff. I want to be here for you and for the wedding since it's so important to you, but I'm not a source. You can't try getting to him through me because, frankly, there's nothing to get."

"Right." Lana added, setting the necklace down on her bedside table. "What about you, Chloe? Is there anything to get about you?"

"Are we gonna play cat-and-mouse all day?"

"Something happened at the bowling alley and I'm not just talking about the almost being run over."

"Meteor mutant, again?" Chloe supplied. "Thinking of going on a witch hunt, Lana. I bet Smallville is just waiting to set up a nice supply of pyres and pillories."

"I wouldn't do that."

"You're the one who told me and Jimmy that 33.1 wouldn't be such a bad place if it were real."

"Well it wouldn't be. Most of the meteor mutants are dangerous. Does anyone else remember Alicia?"

Clark froze and took in a shaky breath. "We are not talking about her. Not ever."

Chloe stood equally frozen and didn't say a word. She didn't know how to feel about Alicia. The other girl had been crazy, even at the end her version of secret keeping had been skewed beyond recognition, but she'd led Chloe to Clark's secret, allowed her to be the confidante that Alicia no longer could be. Besides, Chloe had a deeper empathy for her now that she had to worry about being judged and hated for her power too. Still, no one ever talked about Alicia. Since that day at the grave side, she'd never even heard Clark mention her name. She doubted it was because he'd blocked it out of his memory or was trying to pretend it had never happened. It was more like it simply hurt too much to be reminded of her.

"She tried to kill me."

"It's practically the town pastime." Chloe said. "You can't judge the actions of a whole group of people on a few. There are probably a lot of people in Smallville who've been infected who either don't know it or who don't go around hurting anyone, like Tobias and Dan, unless cheating at bowling is a capital crime."

"Or the ones who go around inflicting minimal property damage on second rate counter tops in bowling alleys."

Chloe stood up to her full height, glad that the heels she'd worn with her dress gave her a small advantage over Lana, and squared her chin. "That's right."

"Chloe!" Clark hissed.

"You wanna be all out and honest and in the open Lana? You want to get rid of all the secrets and lies? Fine then. You saw with me what you thought you saw. You happy now?" Chloe took a deep breath to steady herself. "Linda Lake had it backwards. I haven't been covering for Clark. He's been covering for me."

"That makes no sense."

"Well you have the proof that I'm different. Even Tobias said so. There's no point in lying about it. It's not like Lex doesn't know."

Lana's brow furrowed in confusion. "Lex what?"

"I thought I could do this. Keep my mouth shut and just let you walk down the aisle and be the supportive best friend, but I can't. I have to say this one thing, whether you believe me or not. 33.1 exists. It's real and he's been stealing people away one-by-one to do medical experiments on them, to keep them caged."

"33.1 is an urban myth just like those alligators in the sewers and that thing about pop rocks and coke."

Clark shook his head. "It's real. That's why Lex wanted Tobias so badly and that's why he subsidized the McNally farm to begin with. McNally is a meteor mutant and Lex wanted to keep a closer eye on him. He's running all these tests on people, Lana."

"Ethics sort of don't phase him much anymore."

"He wouldn't do that and even if he did, people like McNally are dangerous. He killed dozens of people. Even if 33.1 did exist, would it be so wrong to get those psychopaths off the street?"

"And this is so how Auschwitz or Nuremburg got started." Chloe added. "Maybe it was one thing once upon a time. Maybe he was just collecting the mutants who wanted help, who were willing to have someone examine their powers and maybe it changed to also getting the dangerous ones off the street, but that's not what it is anymore. He's collecting all of us."

"He wouldn't do that."

Chloe desperately wished she was back in a t-shirt and jeans so she could show Lana her needle scars. Maybe the girl would understand physical proof, but somehow Chloe seriously doubted that. A girl who insisted on spending her time at her parents' graveside twelve years after their death and talking to them daily as if they'd never died was a master at denial. "He took me. That's the real reason Clark's here. He doesn't trust that Lex wouldn't grab me again if I was alone in the mansion. I don't care what else you think or don't think of me. I thought we'd been friends long enough that telling you that I was of the superpowered persuasion wouldn't make much of a difference. After all, it's not like you haven't figured it out already and I hate lying. But you need to know that Lex is dangerous and he's not going to stop taking these people and doing things that Torquemada only dreamed of."

Lana shook her head. "It's not true."

"Where's Tobias then, Lana?" Clark asked quietly. "How come Lex hasn't let you visit him to check up on his recovery."

"How'd you know he hadn't?" Lana asked.

"We know Lex's style by now." Chloe answered. "Look, you're a big girl and it's up to you to make your own decisions. Lois and Clark and I can only tell you our objections so many times and I know coming from Clark they always sound petty and jealous."

"Hey!"

"She's right," Lana admitted, shrugging, "They do."

"Anyway the point is you have to ask yourself if this is worth it. Maybe you believe that what 33.1 is doing is noble, I hope you don't, but maybe you still see some merit in it, and if it were just like Belle Reve maybe it wouldn't be so bad." Chloe conceded, even though that part was a lie. Mental hospitals were probably worse to be locked up in than secret labs.

"But the point is," Clark added, "You have to ask yourself if that's what you want to be associated with because the truth about what Lex is doing is going to come out." His voice was low when he finished, taking on a menacing edge.

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise. Chloe and I aren't going to sit back and let him do this. If she has to call in every favor she ever had at the Planet, we're going to get a front page expose on him."

Chloe felt a giddy thrill when Clark talked like that. There was something unbelievably enticing about the image of her and Clark as the next generation's Woodward and Bernstein. Of course, Clark wasn't so much a staff writer as a DP groupie (or maybe more accurately a Chloe groupie). Still, he couldn't exactly admit that they were going to take down Lex using her and _his_ superpowers either.

Lana's frown deepened. "I think you should both leave now."

"Yeah, I think we have overstayed our welcome. I'll see you on Saturday."

"I can still come by tomorrow if you need me or for any of the other bridesmaid duties, you know? Just as long as they take place in broad daylight in public places with lots of witnesses," Chloe added, giving Lana a quick hug. It felt hollow. "I know you didn't want to hear that and I totally understand that this wedding is up to you. No one here is going to go all The Graduate on you."

"Promise." Clark said, nodding his head.

"But you still accused my fiancé of horrible things."

"We told you what we knew. If you can live with Lex the Evil Scientist who, granted, also happens to be totally in love with you and the father of your child then that's your choice, but we didn't want you to be blindsided." Chloe stepped over the threshold to join Clark on the other side of the doorway.

Lana held back, looking at them both, the anger and confusion clear on her face. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper, "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"About Lex?" Clark asked.

She looked back from Clark to Chloe, her gaze finally settling on her, on her hand actually. "About anything. I'll see you tomorrow, Chloe. I have a few last minute wedding details I need to take care of at some shops in Metropolis. Aunt Nell will be with me and Mrs. Kent is welcome to come if you feel you need plenty of…witnesses." She spit the last word out the same way Chloe had spat chunks of black licorice out when she'd been a kid.

"Alright." Chloe agreed as Lana closed the door on them both, feeling as though something had been lost. Or maybe it had never really been there to begin with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Drawing the Battle Lines**

After the door shut on them, Chloe turned away from Clark and started making her way down the hall. She was walking at a quick pace, heels clicking on the marble of the mansion floor. Of course, even at normal human speed Clark was a lot faster than she was. Stupid long legs. She'd made it about ten feet down the hall before he'd caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder.

She kept pushing forward, but his grip tightened and he managed to spin her around. "What?" She hissed, trying to keep her voice steady.

Sincere green eyes stared back at her. "You really shouldn't have done that."

Chloe pulled ineffectually on her arm. "We should just go. I don't want to hang out here any longer than I absolutely have to."

"You didn't have to do that for me."

"Secret keeper. It's sort of in my job description." Chloe added, lowering her voice to a level that only he could hear. Even if Lex's security sucked, he might still be clever enough to have installed decent cameras.

He frowned and ran his thumb gently over her arm. "Still, you didn't have to go that far."

Chloe shrugged. "Lana's not stupid. She already had put 2 and 2 together, and it's better she's distracted with me than she keeps playing stalker with you."

He snorted. "I never thought that having Lana Lang stalk me could turn into a nightmare."

"You had thoughts about Lana stalking you? Was that a reciprocal thing for all those years of through-the-telescope lust?"

"You're never going to let my telescope hobby slide, are you?"

"It was one of the first things I saw you do, right up there with milking cows and helping your mom bake cookies."

"I am more than my Lana obsession," He defended, his voice barely a whisper.

"God, I hope so. If I can't get you over her now, maybe I just need a really big rock. I think beating the crazy devotion out of you might work."

He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm good at crazy devotion, or do you want me to play it cool with you now?"

"Considering you've been playing it cool with me for the last seven years, I think I'm ready to trade places with Lana in the obsession arena. I mean, someone still owes me diamonds."

"Can I start with cubic zirconium and work my way up?"

Chloe frowned and slapped him lightly on the arm. "You know what Nicole Kidman and Marilyn Monroe say."

"Um, actually no, considering that I'm a guy."

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend."

"I'm a girl's best friend."

"Then you plus diamonds would equal my BFF's." Chloe concluded, turning around and starting back down the hall. "Come on, I've got to figure out how to get my clothes and lap top out of the strong hold that is The Talon."

"Lock-picking wasn't enough?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how many boxes I can sneak down the fire escape before I get ratted out to Lex." She shook her head. "At least on the upside, maybe all of Lois's hair band CD's can mysteriously disappear in the eviction."

"We can only hope, although some of the White Snake stuff wasn't that bad," Clark agreed, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Chloe added, more than ready to go back to the Kent farm and forget all the wedding drama for the next twenty-four hours. She wasn't sure if Mrs. Kent could even get off tomorrow to go shopping with her and even at that she was pretty sure that Mrs. Kent was going to enjoy shopping with Nell as much as she was going to enjoy prolonged exposure to Lana. Maid of honor duties sucked. The two of them had made it almost all the way down to the main entrance hall of the mansion before one of Lex's security guards came up to them.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kent and Ms. Sullivan, but Mr. Luthor wants to see you both in his office right away."

Clark's grip around her shoulders tightened but he said nothing. Instead (and as usual), she took the lead. "Gee, I'd love to up the awkward factor of my day but I seriously have an elsewhere to be. I think there's some early spring cleaning of the farm to get to and, besides, as Lex knows, I have to find a new apartment."

"He told me it won't take very long. Five minutes tops." The guy pulled at his collar and Chloe noticed the beads of sweat pulling at his temples. He didn't look much older than she did and he probably was intimidated by whatever happened to someone who failed a Luthor. He was most likely justified. Guards and scientists on Lex's payroll had a nasty habit of either dying or disappearing without a trace.

Feeling sorry for the messenger, Chloe looked up at Clark and then back to him. "Five minutes."

"No." Clark said, glaring down at the guard and Chloe swore she saw a flicker of red in his eyes.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. Five minutes won't hurt anybody. Besides," she added, turning back to the guard, "I think it's fair to tell you and Lex now that half the patrons of The Talon know we're here and so does Mrs. Kent. It wouldn't look to good if anything happened while we were here."

The guard swallowed and took a step back from the glowering tower of Clark (at least someone had common sense). "That might be a bit paranoid, but I'll pass on the message, now if you'll both follow me."

It took only a few minutes to make it back to Lex's office, but it felt like hours. Chloe wanted to see him about as much as she wanted to be back on that lab table, but she wasn't one to back down from a challenge or to let anyone else see how afraid she was. Besides, after Lana she was sort of on a roll with telling people off.

They both waited outside the door as the guard delivered their message to Lex. Clark had his head quirked to the side in a gesture that always reminded her of Shelby, although today was not the day to razz him about that. Biting her lower lip, she asked, "Anything interesting?"

He shook his head. "Apparently lackeys really do just as their told. He said everything you said verbatim."

"Well, apparently you can hire good help." She deadpanned. "You know, you can loosen up on the grip. No one's overly impressed by the territorial vibe."

"It's not territorial. It's protective," Clark sniffed.

"I'm going to be okay. He's not going to try anything. Hell, he could just want to know about Lana and wedding stuff." Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "Okay, he could be sitting behind his big shiny glass desk ready to gloat about everything and make us both feel like dirt. Gracious in defeat has never exactly been a Luthor family trait."

Clark was about to answer her when the two doors swung open and the bodyguard gestured for the two of them to come inside. Chloe took one more deep breath, trying to calm herself, although her efforts were in vain. Her heart was still racing beneath her breastbone and she knew that Clark could hear it. Looking up quickly, she whispered to him, "Watch the temper, okay. I can't cover for spontaneous combustion of pretentious furniture."

"How about pretentious bastards?"

She shook her head. "Not that either."

Just as she predicted, Lex was sitting behind his desk, his posture relaxed and confident. The smile on his face was disconcertingly familiar and Chloe realized that the last time she'd seen it was when Lionel Luthor had informed her about the loss of her Daily Planet column. It was surprising the things that were genetic.

"Chloe, so nice to see you," He added, shutting his lap top.

She had a sinking suspicion of what had been playing on it and was infinitely glad that even x-ray vision couldn't see through a computer screen. It'd be better if they didn't leave the mansion a smoldering hole in the ground.

"I'd like to say the feeling was mutual, Lex." She added, coming to stand a few feet in front of his desk. Clark was still holding onto her and she took comfort in their closeness.

Lex's smile widened. "My, things certainly have changed in two weeks' time. I have always wondered what would happen when Lana was off the market, so to speak, and apparently quite a lot. Does Jimmy know that you've signed up to be second fiddle to Lana?"

"I don't know." She answered, coldly, "but if anyone can teach me all about being second choice, I'm sure it'd be you."

Lex finally spared a glance at Clark, his expression darkening. "Well maybe it matters who wins in the long run and I have a thousand-person guest list and a million dollar wedding that says I'm the long haul guy."

"We're both so very happy for you." Chloe continued. "Now, as much fun as mutual potshot taking has been, I have an apartment search to start."

"You know there's really no need for that. I have quite the extensive accommodations set up for you."

Clark dropped his arm from around her shoulders and strode over to the desk so close that his legs scraped against it. He leaned over in order to face Lex eye to eye. "You're not taking her anywhere."

"I was just making the offer. Not all of the subjects have to stay at our facilities. We have a free range program as well. Nothing like meteor mutants in their natural habitat."

"Yeah, rolling Kansas farm land. How very National Geographic of you." Chloe said.

Looking down at her shoulder and at the large patch of gauze covering her collarbone, Lex frowned. "Of course, you've somehow managed to lose your tracker in that same miraculous way you managed to escape."

"Well your security does suck. It doesn't exactly take David Blaine to escape from all your restraints."

"And yet you were fairly indisposed for most of the session. By the way, I have to tell you that steel bands are quite the look for you."

Clark slammed his fist down on the desk and Chloe was impressed that he'd had enough control not to shatter it. She was still working on restraining even partial Kryptonian strength when mixed with coffee mugs, and her odds of not shattering things were still 70-30. "You don't get to talk to her like that either."

"Talkative, isn't he?" Lex asked, pointedly ignoring Clark.

"I think threatening his friends brings out the inner Neanderthal, not that I wouldn't love to see the two of you go at it again. The last time you ended up out cold on top of a heap of overpriced wedding gifts supplied by the best sycophants upper management had to offer. Embarrassing much?"

He grimaced slightly but recovered his composure. "Still, you have to marvel at how successful your escape was. One second you're there and quite literally the next second you weren't and at the same time the security cameras are conveniently fried."

She put her hands on her hips and stood up to her full height. It wasn't nearly as effective as it had been with Lana, especially with Clark now standing next to her again. Of course, to be fair, he dwarfed everybody. "Maybe I've got more power than you thought."

"Don't you wish, Chloe, not that what you can do isn't interesting. It is. But this is far beyond your abilities," He added, his gaze turning directly to Clark. Reaching down to his side, Lex pulled up a manila folder and opened it up. Inside was a single security camera photo of a frozen frame. It was an indistinguishable red and blue blur. Chloe felt her heart speed up but she didn't let the rest of her tense up. Clark was already stretched tighter than the front of one of Lois's tank tops. He really needed acting lessons. She was so getting those for him for Christmas. Assuming they didn't spend it together in the middle of a less-than-top-secret evil lab.

"Don't you find this interesting?"

Chloe sighed. "You know, you and Lana really need to coordinate your hopeless and heavy-handed interrogation sessions. I don't know anything."

"Well, I guess it's possible that it's Bart Allen again. He did visit you at the Planet the day after certain mishaps occurred at Luthorcorp, but," he added, glaring at Clark, "I somehow seriously doubt that."

"You done with the overt threats yet, Dr. Evil, or do you have something else you need to hold over my head? Your father already beat you to getting me thrown out of my home. I mean, The Talon apartment was temporary housing at best. Maybe you'd like to threaten my career now or perhaps just shoot a blow dart in my neck and drag me back to that damn table." Her voice was speeding up that way it always did when she fought back tears and she could feel the drops welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Calm as always, Lex sat there for a few seconds, tenting his fingers. "The waiting game has always been much more interesting, don't you think? I know where to find you any day of the week that I want, and even your luck," he gestured with his head toward Clark, "won't hold out forever. However, in the interest of keeping Lana happy, I wouldn't do anything to make her maid of honor disappear before the big day."

"Short of abducting her in the middle of the night." Clark ground out.

Lex shrugged. "I would have returned her. It was a one night stand of a sort. The GPS device would have made sure of that. Still, I have more than enough in my menagerie right now and although there's always room for another, the wedding comes first." He pushed back from his desk, stood up, and made his way over to where she stood. He extended his left hand to stroke her cheek. Clark made a move to stop him, but Chloe shook her head and he stopped. Lex let his hand pass through her hair and held it there for a second.

"So we have a détente, then?" Chloe asked, her voice strained and low.

"Looks like, but it should be fun when the game starts back up again."

Clark was standing beside her and she could see watched as his muscles tensed, preparing to strike a blow. She shook her head one more time and grabbed Lex's hand with her own. She squeezed as hard as she could and was gratified to hear a slight cracking noise. Lex winced and looked down at where she held him in a crystalline cage of a grip. She smiled back at him, her look as predatory as his had been when they'd first entered the room. "I've been practicing." She squeezed just a little bit harder, enough to leave a bruise or at least it would on someone with normal healing. On Lex, maybe she'd have to squeeze just a lot bit harder.

The slight widening of Lex's eyes were the only sign of surprise. Collected as always, he added, "I see."

Predator's grin still on her face, Chloe answered, "Things are about to get a lot more interesting." Dropping his hand, she turned back to Clark and nodded. "Let's go. I think mucking out stalls would be better than this place."

To his credit, Lex didn't shake out his sure-to-be-sore hand. He merely nodded and replied to them both, "Chloe, Clark. I'll see you at the wedding." He turned to Clark and added, "I've saved you a front row seat. I knew you wouldn't want to miss it."

"We'll be there." Clark growled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders once more. "You're right, Chlo. Those stalls won't clean themselves."

Despite the situation, Chloe chuckled at the Jonathan Kentism as she and Clark made their way out into the foyer. When the doors to Lex's office slammed shut, she added, "You do know I was going for hyperbole there, right? I don't do barn chores."

"I can see this being a massive road block in our relationship."

"I think we'll manage."

"Come on, Chlo. I think the taffeta would really work well with all that hay."

"You like flannel. Clearly, your fashion advice doesn't matter," She said, giggling a little as they exited out onto the driveway.

"There's nothing wrong with flannel," Clark added, bringing his hand to his chest in mock offense. Then he sighed.

"Oh no."

"Oh no what?"

"I know that tone. That's the oncoming mope tone."

"It's not a mope but weren't you the one who's always about me being careful? You didn't have to antagonize Lex too."

"Wow, Clark, I didn't know you could be so mother hen."

"I'm not a mother hen! It's just pissing Lex off probably isn't a good idea."

"Maybe he shouldn't have upset me first." Chloe stopped and turned to face him, letting her arms rest at her side. "Look, I don't do barn moping and I don't do crying like a bad Julia Roberts movie either. Getting mad helps and pushing back helps more. If he's going to threaten me…us…then he should know who he's dealing with. I'm not going to be a victim here. That's not who I am."

Clark nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" She asked, arching an eyebrow. After that dramatic and Lifetime-worthy speech, Chloe expected something a bit more than just a simple "okay," but Clark had always been a guy of few words.

"Yup, okay."

"Are you agreeing with me because I'm right or because you're afraid of me?"

"I am not afraid of you."

"Are too. I've made you flinch."

"Have not."

"Have too."

"Yeesh, you threaten one billionaire and all of a sudden you think you're Xena or something."

"Ah no. I'm a little short for that and I thought we established the boundaries on me and leather, but I am pretty bad-ass aren't I?" She added, giving him a genuine smile.

"Well I'm not going to argue with that."

"Scaredy cat."

"Maybe a little."


	7. Chapter 7

**Giving Newton the Bird**

"I'm not so sure about this, Chlo." Clark said as he eyed the bottom of the gorge.

Chloe rolled her eyes and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. "Look, it's simple. You want to fly, so we're just going to start with a good jump off point."

"I don't think this is how it's supposed to work."

"Well birds chuck their hatchlings out of the nest all the time. From the nest, off a cliff, it's all kind of the same thing." She turned to him and clasped her hands together. "Please let me be your mother hen."

And this was the problem with having a city-raised girl as a best friend. "You know that chickens don't actually fly. I mean, they get off the ground but they don't go very far. They just sort of crash."

She frowned. "I guess then you won't be idolizing Foghorn Leghorn as your flying role model."

"And pretending I even know where that obscure reference comes from, I still don't think this is going to work."

"Do you really think this isn't going to work, or are you just scared?"

He narrowed his eyes at her and felt the heat vision flare just a little in his eyes. "I'm not scared."

"I mean, it's okay if you are. I know you had that fear of heights through most of high school, but now that you know you can't be killed by a steep fall…"

"Yeah, falling from the atmosphere is real fun. I'm thinking of selling tickets and making it an amusement park ride."

"Now who's being sarcastic?" She said, shaking her head. "Granted, so falling's not the most fun thing in the world, and remember I fell out a second story window at the mansion and I'm not invulnerable, erm, wasn't then, but still, I think it's like riding a bike. You're going to eat it a few times before you get it right."

"But I'd really not eat it off a freaking cliff. Can't we just start from the loft window and work our way up to bigger and more idiotic things?"

She nodded and grabbed his hand. "You know, you're right. You worked so hard at making me comfortable out in the back forty that maybe it would be best if we started somewhere you'd be more comfortable." See and he knew he'd be able to talk some sense into Chloe. He grinned to himself, pausing for a few seconds to enjoy the view. It was then he felt the shove.

"Holy crap!' He yelled waving his arms in the air frantically, trying to find purchase. He managed to grab onto her before he tipped all the way over the edge. Unfortunately a hundred and ten pounds of Chloe really wasn't going to balance him out. She let out a shriek and tumbled over the side with him.

They landed in a tangle of limbs and an explosion of dust on an out-cropping of rocks below. Usually, Clark could alter his perception of time so that even several seconds felt like hours. This time, however, he'd been too busy freaking out about how high he was falling from (and, yes, he did realize that at this point his phobia of heights was not only ironic but also ridiculous), to be able to concentrate enough to shift his perception. He laid there, drawing in shaky breaths, and trying to pull himself together. Again, it's not like falling led to shattered bones or anything, but it wasn't enjoyable either. He sighed, letting out a large gust of air that just spread the dust around worse, and then noticed someone else coughing next to him.

Oh God, Chloe.

He was on his feet in a blur, turning around in the dust, trying to find her. "Chlo!"

"Down here, flyboy. Jeez, you didn't have to drag me down with you." She chided, climbing to her feet. "You know," She continued, brushing the dirt off her arms. "You're really lucky I was already shifted when I pushed you or I'd be shattered in a million tiny pieces all over the canyon floor."

He was too relieved to let her complaints bother him. Wrapping his arms around her, he gave her what for anyone else would have been a bone crushing hug. She barely batted an eyelash at the pressure of it. It was really nice not having to be careful with one person in his life for once. His relief was soon replaced by something deeper, that same warmth that always swelled between them when their hands touched was amplified with her whole body shifted. Clark could feel the warmth of her and a strange buzzing sensation---a little like sticking his tongue in a light socket, which he'd tried once in his barely speaking English days---percolating under his skin. It was amazing.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

She pulled back and he smiled at how beautiful she was. She was like fine crystal come to life and he marveled in the dozen or so points where the setting sun reflected off of her skin. It created a prism effect and a myriad of colors shone across arms and face. She looked amazing. She looked like home.

"It's okay," Chloe replied, taking his hand in hers. "It was kind of mean to push you. Clearly, the tough love approach is not going to work for flying."

"Maybe," he said, biting his lower lip. "But maybe we could keep trying with the cliff jumping. After the first time, it's not so bad."

"Like that time in eighth grade you were scared to go off the high dive at the community pool until Pete bet you half his baseball card collection. Man," she said, shaking her head. "We couldn't pry you off that thing afterward."

He nodded. "Like that. But I think you might have a point about starting from somewhere high. I think that's going to work best."

"Alright then. Since I'm being the coach this time, then I deem us ready to go back to work," she said, and he could see the peachy tones creeping back into her skin.

He brought his hand up to her shoulder and inhaled sharply at the overwhelming warmth that flowed through him when he did it. "You don't have to change back. It's just us out here. It's not like the gorge is that popular a hang out spot for anyone."

"Only kids high on parasites and low on brains." She deadpanned, looking away. "Look, Clark, I thought this was a day to practice your power, not mine."

He placed his other hand under her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. Her eyes shone a green deeper than Kryptonite did. They were a brilliant emerald color and he felt like he could stare at them all day. He wouldn't of course because that would be a wee bit stalkerish. Not through my telescope stalkerish, but odd enough that Chloe'd totally call him on it. "You should keep practicing. If you weren't so good at it already, you would have been smashed when we fell."

"I know. I just---"

"It's weird."

"A whole panel of the WoW weird. I know, I know. I don't want to end up out-moping you, but it's only been a week and it's so hard to get used to this," She added, bringing her arm up to emphasize her point.

"For what it's worth, I think you're beautiful."

"You're just saying this because I look like the missing birdbath from your crystalline garden."

"Not a birdbath, maybe an angel."

She swatted at his shoulder and it actually stung. Now that was weird. "Well, Mr. Kent, with lines like that no wonder you're a winner with the ladies." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, you're a writer. You can do better than that."

"Ex-writer and I think my brains got scrambled on impact."

"That's for damn sure." She said, letting her skin harden back. "So," she added, putting her arms around his neck, "You are going to superjump us back up because I am so not a mountain climber."

He gathered her legs up as well and squatted down. He felt the rush of leaving the ground and for a second it felt like he was flying, although, he'd always felt that there was a difference between jumping and soaring through the skies. Wasn't there?

Chloe was sitting on the edge of the cliff, swinging her legs against its side. He'd relegated her to that corner because even though he was willing to wipe out and fall flat on his face dozens of more times before he flew, he didn't want to be pushed, and he didn't trust her unless he could see her. That sounded weird based on their seven years of friendship, but Sullivan-Lane girls had a mean streak. He trusted her with his secret and his life but he definitely didn't trust not to give him just an extra "helping" push.

"You know, at this rate humans will have figured out how to fly before you do."

"Well I could always clue together some wings and goose feathers and call it a day."

She snorted. "Yeah because that worked out so well for Icarus."

"Alright, maybe I'll add super-super glue, something nice and sunlight resistant."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not even dignifying that with a response. So the way I see it we have two approaches."

He turned to her and put his hands on his hips. "I thought humans didn't know how to fly."

"Do you?"

"Not really but my birth parents didn't really think far enough ahead to send an instructional manual, which, come to think of it, would have been appreciated."

"Doesn't the A.I. at the Fortress count?"

He scrunched up his face in disgust. "But it's so bossy and has this slight meglomaniacal bent, not exactly helpful to the fledgling Kryptonian with hormonal problems."

She laughed. "Sex-triggered heat vision. Funniest superpower ever."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "So much for having supportive significant others. You know, I'm going to figure out something embarrassing about your ability just so I can bring it up at awkward moments and embarrass the Hell out of you."

"No you won't."

"Oh, there's always an embarrassing side to superpowers, believe me"

"Yeah, but you're a better person than I am. You'd never tease you wilting flower of a girlfriend."

Wilting flower? More like stampeding elephant, but he didn't say that out loud because he didn't want Chloe to kick his ass and there was now a chance that she could do just that. Still, Chloe was anything but delicate. Yeah, she was not taller than Lana, but while the other girl really elicited images in his brain of Southern Belles and fainting spells, Chloe had always seemed like an unstoppable force. Even before her meteor-power manifested itself, she'd been able to keep pace with a Kryptonian.

And boss him around more than he'd like to admit.

"Keep telling yourself that, Chlo. So, you were saying about the two approaches?"

She picked at the grass around her, pulling one stem to pieces as she spoke. "The Peter Pan method dictates that you need to think happy thoughts."

"Are you serious? I'm not a lost boy."

"Well you are an orphan, although it's a shame you aren't a hot Keiffer Sutherland vampire."

He rolled his eyes and ignored Chloe's pop culture contribution of the day. "I'm just saying that's a possibility. I mean, we don't have any fairy dust but maybe it is a happy thought thing." Her tone became more serious and she quirked her head at him. "Do you remember the first time you ever floated?"

He shifted his feet uncomfortably underneath him. He did remember the first time he'd ever floated. It had happened the morning after being the Crow's newest scarecrow. He should be grateful that he'd had dreams great enough to propel him airborne instead of nightmares about being cold and frightened on the cross. And yes, he was aware that the symbolism couldn't get any more obvious if one tried. Yes, he remembered that dream completely, hovering over Lana and watching her sleep, seeing how ethereally beautiful she was.

Of course Dream!Lana had gone and ruined it by blaming him for the death of her parents and he'd crashed instantly.

Come to think of it, maybe Chloe was onto something. He'd felt like crap after being reminded of his guilt, and he'd ended up plummeting to Earth (or at least his poorly constructed bed).

"Clark, you do know that despite the similarities to Emma Frost, I'm not actually psychic, right?"

Thank God for large favors. "It's just that you're not really going to like this story."

"Oh, so the flying is Lana-activated too?" Her voice was a little to bright when she answered and he knew she was trying to fight off her baser instincts, the ones that usually included yelling and maybe hitting things.

Well there were plenty of rocks around to crush.

"I'm not sure. I just know that the first time I ever floated, I was dreaming about hovering over Lana's bed---"

"Hold it right there, loverboy. I think I can imagine the rest, thank you very much."

"No. It wasn't like that at all. I think there was this whole other part, too with me flying over the fields and that just felt…right. When I got to Lana's room, that's when I crashed. I mean, yeah, my mom yelled to me about breakfast and that woke me up, but Lana---Dream!Lana---might have first kind of accused me of murdering her parents."

"Kind of?"

"She said, 'It's all your fault,' which, Freud, I get was a subconscious thing and really how I felt about myself. I'd only seen the Wall of Weird for the first time the day before and it's a lot to be saddled with, even if I didn't cause it or couldn't control it, I came with it." He started pacing, "I feel like crap about the whole thing. I always have. I…I think I was getting better at not feeling guilty and not blaming myself. I'd accepted that Lex was bald and Lana was an orphan because of the shower and now I managed to hurt you too."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes but did not move from her perch on the cliff's ledge. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything about the meteor shower. I was upset and I wasn't thinking."

"But it's true, isn't it? There are hundreds of inmates at Belle Reve and who knows how many people that Lex is torturing off in 33.1 and it's because of me."

"It's because your planet blew up, and I'm pretty sure an infant didn't cause that. On the other hand, that raging sociopath General Zod? Definitely his fault. I swear, if I ever get my hands on his non-corporeal ass."

"I think that's going to be a little hard, what with him a phantom and stuck in the PZ." 

"Still, it's not bad enough for him to eviscerate a planet and try to do the same to another one, he has to cause all this fall-out that ruined Smallville too. Seriously, if Krypton ever leaned toward capital punishment, he would have been the guy."

"I know. I still just feel responsible."

"Well stop!" She said, her eyes glittering dangerously. "Ego te absolvo. That's what Father McGrady always says at confession and it's true. You didn't do anything wrong and if you had, I know you're trying to make amends. You've spent the last six years trying to clean up a mess you didn't make. Stop feeling so damn guilty."

He whistled. "Wow, your confessional manner might need some work."

"Well you need a kick in the ass and," she added, banging her left leg so hard against the cliff that chunks of rock split off of it, "I can actually do that now. I blame Zod for this and even that's pretty pointless. It's not like anyone can undo it, and so far I can control it and I'm still sane. That's all a pretty win-win situation for me." She sped up through that last part and he could tell that despite her bravado, Chloe was still scared. Her greatest fear, ever since she found her mother, was going insane. It might even be a more distinct possibility now that she'd been meteor-infected. Most of the meteor mutants had gone homicidal, although there were quite a few who had not, like Cassandra, Dan, and Tobias.

"Alright then. If Priest Chloe tells me I'm forgiven, it must be true."

"I'm Catholic, I so have an inside track to God." She said, winking. "So, thinking about Lana actually kept you grounded. Strike one point against the happy thoughts theory."

"Well, maybe Lana was never my happy thought."

"So thinking about me is going to make you fly?"

"That's a little presumptuous. I could have girlfriends on the sly you don't know about."

"Yeah, there's a lot of girls out there who want to date an alien."

"That's low, but, you know, I could have groupies on the sly waiting for me in Roswell."

"Dream on, Chewbacca." She said. "But I still don't think it's a happy thought thing."

"So much for the power of fairy tales."

"Hah. So then it could try my other theory."

"Which would be?"

"The Wiley Coyote method. If you don't look down, then you won't fall."

"I don't think that's going to work either," He said, chuckling and shaking his head.

"Well that was more my outside theory if the happy thoughts plan didn't work." She said, putting her elbows on her thighs and then pillowing her chin in her hands. "Okay, so tell me about the other times you've floated."

He shrugged and continued pacing. "It usually happens after I dream, but I don't often remember what I'm dreaming about." Off her curious look he added, "No I don't think that's a Kryptonian thing. Pete never was very good at remembering his dreams either." Not the specifics anyway. He always swore, though, that they involved supermodels and Halle Berry, although not necessarily in that order.

"Alright," she prodded patiently. "When else do you remember flying?"

"The week that that symbol got burned into my barn."

"The week you burned it into your barn." She corrected, smirking.

"Alright, when I burned it. Anyway, it was the first time I'd ever gotten a download of information and I think my fa…Jor-El was sort of controlling me at the time. Or, I dunno, it's like mom found the key and it and the caves were both calling to me, since that's where Jor-El's will was before the Fortress---"

"That's what you think was also giving you the extra boost."

"Exactly," he replied, nodding and slowing his pacing. "I remember those dreams and they were similar to the one with Lana, just the sense of soaring of everything feeling right."

She frowned at him, her eyes narrowing. She didn't quite believe him, could tell that he was holding something back. And he was. "Okay, so the second time is not that helpful. Were there any other times?"

"Two." He said, sighing and sitting down next to her. He was getting a crink in his neck from staring down at here. Alright, he was pretty sure it was impossible for him to crink his neck, but he had realized that his flying lesson was going to be more a lesson in visualization and searching his feelings (sorry, a Star Wars marathon had been on last night) and not just a jump and hope process.

"Feel free to tell me about them anytime. I'm not going to have to remind you about not being psychic from now on, am I?"

"Nope."

"Ah, so the awkward silence means something."

"It's not that awkward."

"You wanna hear theory number three?"

"You're going to tell it to me anyway."

"I'm going to ignore that thinly veiled insult about my loquaciousness and continue." She said, placing her right hand over his left. The warmth of it calmed him a little, but he wasn't going to be placated. It was going to take more than a few tingles to get him to admit where he suspected his floating ability came from. "My theory is that you know exactly what you have to do to fly."

"I don't." He lied.

"You know, I might not be psychic but you are still a shitty liar, Clark."

"The third time," he continued, ignoring her badgering. "…there was this girl. She called herself Kara and claimed she was Kryptonian, that she'd been waiting in the caves for me. She was sort of offering me this Adam and Eve deal."

"Uh-huh." Chloe drawled noncommittally.

"It doesn't matter," he added, squeezing her hand affectionately and, incidentally, with enough pressure to crush granite. "She was lying. Jor-El had brainwashed her and she wasn't even Kryptonian. Her real name was Lindsay."

"Well that explains that one."

"Huh?"

"You dad came to The Torch only once the entire time we were in high school, and it was to get these mystery fingerprints off of a coffee cup. It turned out to be this Lindsay girl."

"See, still the only one." He said, giving a mirthless laugh.

She squeezed his hand back and, leaning in, gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll just call you Tigger from now on."

He laughed and this time it was genuine. "Did I ever tell you that Perry quotes Winnie-the-Pooh."

"Really?"

He nodded. "After I called him, he actually hung up by saying 'Ta ta for now.'"

"Cool. I knew Mr. White and I were going to be perfect running the Planet together."

"It's nice to have long-term goals."

"Who's talking long term? I was thinking next week." She grinned up at him and he wasn't entirely sure she wasn't kidding. "Anyway, so I assume you and not-Kara went flying."

"We did. It wasn't anything special. I mean, yeah we flew, but it was more like floating, definitely nothing like a jet plane, and not nearly as fast as I can, um, leap."

"Yeah, 'leap.'" She said, making an air quote with her left hand, then adding, "What did you feel like when you did it?"

"Well, I think she was the one doing it."

"I doubt it, or else you would have been dangling or something. It was both of you, wasn't it?"

And it was then that he remembered that Chloe was an investigative reporter, the kind that when you finished asking one of her questions, had another dozen left for you to answer. "Yeah, Chlo. I was doing it to."

"And you know remember how you were feeling. I know you would have, even if you didn't have a photographic memory. I think being awake and flying for the first time would be something you'd never forget."

It wasn't. Being up in the air above the barn was as fresh in his mind right then as it had been almost three years ago. Overwhelmed, he closed his eyes. He could feel Chloe stroking the back of his hand, causing tingles to spread over it in little waves. He didn't want to think about. He didn't.

"It's okay."

"It just felt right."

"So you've said that before, but that's vague, Clark. I edited your work for four years. I know you have a more extensive vocabulary than that.

In point of fact, he had as an extensive vocabulary as the one of the newest editions of Merriam Webster's. He'd been bored one Sunday in middle school and felt like being constructive with his speed reading skills. He also had all the phone numbers in Lowell County memorized. "I dunno, Chlo. I felt like I belonged, that I could be Kryptonian with her and that it would be okay, that it would be better than just okay. I could really enjoy my powers. My parents never let me do that."

"I see." She said, still steadily stroking his hand. "It's okay if you thought that Lindsay was one of yours. I know how lonely you are. I try, but I know it's not the same."

"Well, they did trick me, so apparently I can't trust my hormones." He sighed and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders. "Most days you are enough, Chlo. You and my mom, I mean, but it's so fucking hard being the last one." Chloe arched an eyebrow at his profanity. He rarely swore, but it had been a long week and it was beginning to take its toll, even on his invulnerable constitution. "Kara…Lindsay, she came when everything was falling apart. You were in the middle of getting ready to testify against Lionel, Pete and I weren't really talking, Lana was moving to Paris and I could tell that Lex was keeping huge secrets from me---yes, I know how hypocritical that sounds. It was just nice to be with someone who was supposed to be like me, who wouldn't be weirded out like I was afraid you'd be."

"For the record, you're an idiot."

"Maybe. But I felt Kryptonian, I guess, with her, which is pretty ironic because we don't even have these powers where I'm from. It's some weird side effect of the sun's radiation. Yellow light. Ours was red."

"Oh."

"Yeah. If there were a Krypton and I were there, I'd be so freaking average."

"I always said that normal was highly overrated."

"You still believe that?" He asked, opening his eyes to check out her reaction.

"Perhaps. I don't know if I'd like to look like a piece of cut crystal from time to time, but the white picket fence was never really my style anyway." She added, giving a pained smile.

"Mine either."

"Then we're very lucky we found each other." She said.

"Yeah."

"So, what was the last time where you flew?"

"After I got back."

"From where?"

"See that's the part of the story you missed when you were 'dead.' My dad didn't get to me in time with the information and Lindsay tricked me into a position where I had to go into a hidden chamber in the caves. I was there for three months being brainwashed and then when I got out, I wasn't me."

"Okay, Sartre, who were you?"

"Kal-El."

She frowned but her brows, of course, couldn't furrow to show her confusion. "That's your birthname, right?"

"Yeah, but when I came out, I was just like this robot or something. I didn't care that my dad was in the hospital, I pushed my mother around, literally. Anything about being Clark Kent didn't matter. I was just waiting for whatever commands Jor-El was going to give me."

"He did, I assume."

"More or less. One of the crystals that made up the Fortress started calling to me, from one of Lex's private jets as a matter of fact, and I took off to retrieve it. It was so easy. One minute I was on the ground and the next I wasn't. It was like breathing."

"And you don't remember how you did it?" He looked away but, in a reversal of their earlier exchange, she put her hand under his chin and forced him to look at her. Forced him. It was so weird being manhandled, especially by a girl. That hadn't really happened since Zod's female lieutenant. "Clark, look at me. You know exactly what you did, how it felt."

He ran a hand over his face. "I…I can't share it, Chlo. It's too hard."

"And this isn't?" She asked, holding up her left arm. "I'm sitting here, looking like a tourism advertisement for your home planet, and trying to get used to this whole freakish---screw your ban on that word---new side to me. You think that's not awkward or painful for me?"

"It's not the same."

Hers eyes glittered again and she barely kept herself from yelling. "Tell me why it's not?"

"Because your power, I dunno, it comes from a good place. You want to protect yourself. It's a physical manifestation of that emotion. You don't want to hurt anyone; you just want to keep yourself safe."

"So you're saying you want to hurt people when you fly?"

"Of course not."

"Then what is it?" She asked, throwing her hands up in the air.

He closed his eyes and looked away from her again. "It's about being better than everybody else. It's about knowing deep down that I don't belong here and being proud of it. Kal-El, me, whatever had enough contempt for the world that he just left it behind. He…I didn't need it so it wasn't even an obstacle. All that ego, that insufferable superiority complex that Fine and Zod and Jor-El all had, I have it too." He looked back at her, daring her to speak.

Her reaction was telling. She shifted almost instantly, pink skin pouring over and replacing the crystalline shell that had encased her. Her concentration had broken. "No, you don't." She said, shaking her head. "In fact, you pretty much have an inferior complex or else you wouldn't hide your powers from everyone. That and the good common sense that keeps you from telling so you don't get carted off to 33.1." She reached out to touch his forearm and he immediately felt the loss of that special warmth she gave him when she shifted. "You don't really feel that way."

He shook his head and looked away from her, embarrassed. "I do. Deep down, in the back of my mind, I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I ran things. You know I could. Give me a week and I could have the U.N. on its knees. It would be ridiculously easy. I could set up whatever I wanted, 'rule them with strength' and all that crap. I'd never do it, but I've thought about it. I've had a lot of days where I'll be watching the news and know that I could do better than that."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Please, we all think we can do better than the current yahoo in office. That's pretty human of you, actually, and very disaffected twenty-something."

"No, you don't get it, Chlo. I know I'm better than you. I'm smarter than you, much smarter and we both know it. And I'm sure as Hell stronger, probably stronger than most natural forces on Earth let alone humans. There are some meteor mutants that came close to beating me when I was younger and hadn't grown into my powers, but lately, it hasn't even been a contest. During those few times when I floated and was controlling, it was about knowing that I was Kryptonian---knowing that I was superior---and enjoying it. That's why, even though I've known how to fly for over two years, I haven't done it because I can't afford to think that way. I don't want to be Zod."

She ran her fingers lightly over his arm and then took his hand, squeezing it and trusting him to squeeze back and not hurt her frail human body. "You're not going to be, not ever."

"You don't know that. All the others---"

"Were raging sociopaths and Jor-El and Raya were full of themselves. I liked Raya a lot, as little as I got to know her, but she was pretty damn arrogant too, just showing up and expecting you to have followed through with your wonderful training, as if putting the mantle of savior on a sixteen year old boy wasn't flat out fucking ridiculous. I don't know, maybe Kryptonians were just a little arrogant as a race. Maybe they thought they were better than mass space travel, but that was obviously not anymore of a virtue for them than it was for us. They were so arrogant that they're not even around."

"Most of us."

"Minus one orphan, an evil robot, and three criminal masterminds. Okay, so I can see how you could come by those feelings honestly. I mean, even if you didn't have superpowers, Jor-El is one of the most pompous asses I've ever had the displeasure to meet. I resent my 'one human life' not being worth your destiny. Anyone who'd let anyone freeze to death has seriously skewed priorities. And considering what you can do, I understand why you feel superior too. I only have a fraction of your strength, but it's enough to feel really heady. I don't feel drunk off power, but I do feel a bit like a badass. Still, you aren't going to turn out like Zod."

"How can you be so sure, Kal-El was an asshole."

"He was also brainwashed, for one."

"What's two?"

"I wasn't here. If I had been, I would have given you a piece of my mind, and I don't care how many freaking superpowers you have, nothing in your arsenal matches a pissed off Sullivan-Lane girl. Lois just didn't know you well enough to lay the smackdown on you."

"She did do a pretty good job of keeping me reigned in at the hospital."

"See. You're not going to get carried away with how wonderful you are because I'm not going to let you. No matter how great you are at flying, Mighty Mouse, I know everything about you. I know that your still terrified of heights, note to Alanis now that _is_ ironic. I know that you used to trip over your own two feet anytime you got near the so-called girl of your dreams. I'd never seen someone eat it so regularly until I moved to Smallville, by the way. And I know that you're still scared of the dark, just a little bit, because you have an Elmer Fudd nightlight."

"Damn Lois's big mouth."

"Trust me. You aren't going to turn into some megalomaniacal dictator because I won't let you. Plus," she added, shifting just her left hand and flexing it into a fist. "I might not be able to take you, but I could probably give you a big enough ass-kicking to knock your superiority complex down a few notches." Then she burst out laughing.

He joined her, feeling the tension lift, and relief wash over him. "It would be so embarrassing if my girlfriend kicked my ass."

Chloe froze instantly.

Oh crap. He'd used the g-word. "Chloe, don't be like that."

"Not now. I mean, yeah we've kissed a few times---"

"Might I add that the way we've kissed has not been anything I'd ever think of doing with a friend like Pete or Jimmy."

"Yeah."

"And I know you love me. You always have."

"Ego much?" She snipped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And I know that I love you."

She shook her head. "No, you know that you saw me cut open on a lab table and it freaked the Hell out of you, and you're relieved I'm alive. You still have all these muddled Lana feelings and on top of it, I'm not even sure that it's me you're in love with."

"Huh?"

"You might just be in love with my superpowers."

"I didn't even know about the whole tingling thing until after I offered to be your Valentine." He defended.

"But I know you. You fell hard for Khyla, the werewolf, and you married Alicia, the teleporter, about a week after her release. Yeah, I know about the Red K, but you still could have been in it for just the easy sex. You married her because you were deeply in love with her and part of that was because even though she wasn't Kryptonian, she had powers just like you did."

"It isn't about near-death experiences or superpowers. I love you."

She shook her head sadly and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I wish I could believe that. I…we're best friends right now---"

"Who kiss."

"Well there is that part, but I am so not ready to be girlfriend and boyfriend yet. Yeah, I've always wanted that with you, but I'm still trying to find out who I am now, what it means to be a meteor freak, if I'll even be sane in a few months. Not to mention the fact that Lex Luthor is going to hunt me down the second he ties the knot. I just…I can't right now and you need to figure out what Lana means to you and what I mean to you, just as regular old Chloe, not before Super Chloe showed up."

"I…but."

She brought a finger up to his lip. "Not now, Clark, please. Let's just try for lift off and worry about finding me a new place to live. I didn't want to fight today or get all girly. I'm sorry."

He nodded. She had a point. A few good ones, actually. "Okay," he said, standing up and extending a hand toward her. "Are you ready for me to try this."

She extended her left hand, shifting it back to normal before she touched him, much to his disappointment. "Yeah, let's do this."

"'Let's?' Chlo, I don't think I'm passenger ready?"

"Puh-leaze, like it'd hurt if we crashed. I already fell off a cliff. Apparently even the 'vegetation' or whatever on Krypton is made of sterner stuff."

Clark sighed and rolled his eyes. It was futile to argue with her. You couldn't talk a Sullivan-Lane girl out of anything. Damn that fiery Irish temper. "Alright, you asked for it." He said, reaching out to sweep her legs out from under her. He was holding her close against his chest, the same way he had when he'd saved her from Belle Reve almost a year ago. Even if they were "just friends" right now, he loved the feel of her against his chest, loved feeling her warmth and vitality.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then he took a few more. And some more.

"Clark?"

"Yeah?" He said, opening an eye.

"I'd like to do this before the sun sets. Veronica Mars is on tonight."

"Ha ha."

"Seriously," she said, "It's going to be okay. You aren't going to go all evil dictator because I won't let you. It's okay to let yourself feel more Kryptonian. You don't have to hide it with me or deny it like with your mother. Besides, I think you're wrong. Maybe right now it feels like flying means you have to feel 'superior,' but I don't think that's really it."

"You don't?"

"I just think it's because it makes you feel free." She smirked back up at him. "I know why the caged bird sings."

"I'm not a big bird, Chlo."

"Well Big Bird doesn't fly either." She said, her smirk, widening. "Come on, Mighty Mouse, let's see what you can do."

He nodded and closed his eyes again. Taking in one last deep breath, he honed in on what it had felt like to be Kal-El, to be able to be his true self without worrying about what other people would think of him, to be able to love his gifts. When those same feelings washed over him, he opened his eyes and bent his knees. Letting out a deep breath, he released his knees and shot up, up and away.

Chloe was clutching tightly to his neck as he flew and he had his arms wrapped as tightly around her hips and legs as he dared. At first he was rocketing through the clouds, feeling them whip around his face and through his hair. His perception shifted and he could see everything unfolding before him in slow motion. They passed by a flock of geese heading south and he could see each feather ruffling in the wind, the subtle and incremental movement of their nearly frozen wings. The speed was amazing. So much faster than he'd ever run. Hell, faster than Bart Allen had ever run. He knew it. He was lightening unleashed, faster than the speed of sound, faster maybe even than light itself.

But it probably was a bit too much speed for a human.

Reluctantly, he concentrated and felt his speed drop so that it could be measured in tens of miles an hour. He was doing twenty maybe thirty miles an hour tops. Regaining his normal perception, he looked down toward Chloe.

"Chlo?"

She blinked up at him and gasped. "I didn't even realize we'd taken off. It was so fast."

What had felt like hours for him had probably been barely a microsecond for her. Oh the joys of superspeed. "I know." And he couldn't keep the pride from creeping into his voice. "I can fly faster than I can run."

"Cool, but don't get a swelled head, Mighty Mouse. Just because you can fly, doesn't mean you can land worth a damn."

"Hey! I can so land."

"Uh-huh, we'll see," She said snuggling against him. He felt the tingling before he looked down and noticed, she shifted in his grasp.

"You don't trust me not to drop you?"

"Just taking precautions. I really don't want to die, you know? I have to get revenge on Lex Luthor first."

"That's a healthy perspective." He riposted.

They spent the next hour swooping around through the clouds. It would have been very romantic, if they weren't also best friends. Most of their inaugural flight was filled with Chloe's running commentary a far too many Daffy Duck and Mighty Mouse jokes. Leave it to her to take something so majestic and shred it with snark.

She was right. He was never going to become an egomaniac with her around.

Finally, though, the sun was setting and it was time to land. He swooped low, ducking under trees and brush, and pointedly ignoring Chloe's complaints against getting hit by branches. They really weren't going that fast and she should try avoiding low-hanging foliage and see how easy it was. Besides, since they were both invulnerable, it was more annoying than it was painful.

Finally, he worked himself back to the edge of the cliff and, taking a deep breath, swept low for his final descent. It was a lot like leaping pencil style into a pool, or that was the best metaphor he had. Maybe he'd have been better off if he'd done gymnastics as a kid because he wished he'd learned how to stick a landing before. He felt his speed slow until he was just hovering upright a few feet above the ground. Then he just dropped, landing easily, and absorbing the impact with his knees.

Chloe changed back instantly as she prepared to hop down from what she'd playfully dubbed "Clark Kent Airlines." Before she did, though, she made sure he got enough mixed signals for the night by giving him another quick peck on the cheek.

Girls. He might be the Kryptonian, but they were the whole other species.

He let her go and ignored the pang that blossomed in his chest when her warmth was removed from him. "So, did I pass the test?"

"Well, I think my hair's pretty messed up and I might have gotten a bug or two in my teeth, but I think your first trip out was a success, Mighty Mouse," she said, her grin so wide it seemed to swallow up her whole face.

"I like 'Stretch' better." A familiar voice quipped behind them.

They both spun around to find a familiar red-hooded individual smirking back at them.

"Bart Allen." Clark said, shaking his friend's hand and wrapping him up in a manly half-hug. "Good to see you, man."

Bart pulled away and held his arms wide open. "Chloelicious, show me how much you missed me."

"Dream on, Impulse," She said, rolling her eyes, but still walking over and giving him a quick hug.

"Now that was amazing," he said, looking back at Clark. "I've never seen anything else like that."

"You saw that?" Chloe asked, the color draining out of her cheeks.

Clark shifted his eyes toward her but said nothing. She was still sensitive about having his mother watch her practicing and she'd only ever fully shifted in front of him. Even in front of the rest of the Justice Bros (they were definitely going to have to change the name now), she was nervous about looking like the biggest freak. Considering he was part of the group too, he doubted she'd win the dubious title of most bizarre member. Still, she was insecure about her powers and didn't want Bart to see her that way.

"Yeah, señorita, I saw Clark float like a butterfly but not so much sting like a bee."

"You did?" She squeaked.

"Yeah, wish I'd had a better view, though. I only caught a glimpse from behind. You still got the up close and personal view." He said, his brows furrowing with concern. "You okay, you look a little sick."

"Just air sick. High altitude and all that," She said, giving a weak laugh. Recovering quickly, she added, "What brings you here?"

"My favorite reporter gets abducted by Mr. Clean and you expect me just to hang back in Cairo and play nice at command central. Yeah right."

"Bart," Clark said, massaging his temples. Technically, he didn't get headaches but it sometimes felt like he could when he talked with the fastest kid alive. "Does Ollie know you're gone?"

"He will in a few hours."

"Perfect." He replied, letting the sarcasm creep into his tone. "Well gang, let's get back home. I need to call Ollie and explain where the junior member of the Justice Bros got to and then I want to sleep. Flying's pretty exhausting."

And then, in an oddly girlie moment, Chloe stroked her chin and looked thoughtful. "But I wonder how many calories it burns?"

"Who cares?" Bart added. "I just ran here from Egypt. I'm starving. Your mom wouldn't happen to be home, would she?"

Clark rolled his eyes. "Congress is out for the next week and she just baked two apple pies. One of which is so mine."

"Dibs on the other one."

"What about me?" Chloe asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I didn't think you'd want any. Don't you want to maintain your girlish figure?" Clark asked.

"I'm so not Lana. I want my half of the pie, Mighty Mouse, or else I'll break out the green rocks and take all of it."

"Busted," Bart said, laughing, as they all climbed into the Kent family truck and headed to the familiar yellow farmhouse, which, even though Clark had now learned to fly, to access the alien part of himself, would always be his home.


	8. Chapter 8

**The 11****th**** Hour **

"So, Chloelicious, honestly, do your Irish brethren eat anything that doesn't come with some form of potatoes?" Bart asked, biting into the mashed spuds topping his shepherd's pie.

Clark had kept his end of the bargain to take Chloe to Dublin once he'd learned to fly. Bart, naturally, had wanted to tag along, and that left the three of them sitting together in a nearly deserted pub in the heart of the city. She'd actually been pretty impressed that Clark had gotten them there so easily. She and Bart had taken even bets that Clark would get lost on the way and end up somewhere over Russia. Chloe'd been glad that Clark had proven Bart wrong. The twenty bucks in her pocket were always welcome.

Plus it helped ease her annoyance at the easy slam on her heritage. "Come on, Bart, you can do better than that. Wasn't the joke a little obvious?" She asked.

"He can't do better than that." Clark quipped, taking a big bite out of his beer-battered fish.

"That's harsh man. Aren't we supposed to be a united front, here?"

"United?" Clark asked between bites.

"Yeah, we're the Justice Bros."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "First of all, that's so not your official name. Second of all, that's a sexist name. You had a girl founding member, you know, me, and now I'm as superpowered as the rest of you."

"Oliver's normal." Bart said, poking the mound of potatoes with his spoon and frowning.

"He's a billionaire. You don't think Bill Gates could hook himself up as a crime fighter with all the money he has? If he really wanted to, he could get the personal trainers and karate experience and bam! He'd be crime fighting ready."

"Really?" Clark asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well Ollie has that yoga part of his daily regime. Lois said so before she went into TMI territory with details about the bendy stuff."

A pall fell over the table as Chloe and Clark shuddered, neither wanting to think about Lois having sex with anyone. Chloe tried to block out the mental pictures because Lois was family and there were some things you just didn't need to know about your cousin. Clark had his eyes clamped shut in near panic because it was Lois. Even if she were the last woman on Earth, and...wait, that cliché really didn't work with him. Bart, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. He'd seen the pics in Ollie's office. You could say a lot of things about the Sullivan-Lane girls, both good and bad, but one thing was for sure they had large---

"Bart?" Chloe asked, waving her hand in front of him. "You know that moment of collective cringing passed."

"Oh, right, right."

Chloe pinched the bridge of her nose. Men were so predictable. "Anyway, point is, we are not calling our group the Justice Bros. Besides, it was a stupid name to begin with."

"Yeah, but A.C. would have loved it." Clark said, smirking.

"Uh-huh. So, Bart, how are the rest of the boys?"

"Copasetic, Chloerita" He answered, shoveling the meat and peas down his throat at alarming speed. A guy with a fast metabolism couldn't afford to be picky. "They still have a lot of clean-up to do at the satellite site in Cairo. They won't b able to make it out for the wedding."

"What a shame," Clark added, taking a swig of Guinness.

There was one advantage of going abroad and it was the lowered drinking age. Granted, Clark was only a few months shy of twenty-one according to his Lionel-sponsored birth certificate. Of course in his case who the Hell really knew. Plus, the guy could drink battery acid and not feel a thing from it. Mostly, as with her, it was just the thrill of being able to do something that was so forbidden back in the states. As for the alcohol? She didn't care for it that much, never had, even when Lois had snuck her a first beer back during her intern summer after the twisters.

Drinking was much more her cousin's thing.

"Do you think we can get out of the wedding too? Maybe the guys need a hand in the Valley of the Kings?" She asked.

"What and deprive you of watching Uncle Fester in all his glory? Why would we wanna do that?" Bart asked, taking a swig of his own drink, a milk. Clark hadn't wanted him running while intoxicated. Plus, Bart still felt like too much of a kid to corrupt. At least that had been Clark's opinion when he'd been channeling Jonathan Kent. Chloe was a little less lofty and holier than thou about the whole deal. However, she didn't want him getting dizzy and running his way to Cape Horn or something. She also didn't want him to feel any more entitled to hit on her than he already did.

Not that all the superhero attention wasn't flattering.

"An act of mercy, maybe?" Chloe offered. "I just can't believe we have to play nice with Lex for a whole day. I can't believe Lana's still going to marry him. What's she thinking?"

"Well, I think---"

"Let me handle this one, Stretch," Bart interrupted, his mouth still full. "She's only twenty, a college drop-out, an orphan, and oh did we all forget the part where she's pregnant with his evil spawn." He shook his head. "It'll be a miracle if their kid doesn't come out with horns."

"That's harsh." Clark corrected. "The baby's Lana's too."

"And that's my point because being raised a Luthor is not going to be so healthy for the kid."

"Yeah, but he'll be loaded. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about playing it straight now, but can you imagine growing up with butlers and servants and more cars than a dealership? My feet might fly but nothing impresses the ladies like a Ferrari."

"That's right, Bart, we are all suckers for four wheels and a leather interior. Do me now." Chloe quipped, laughing when Bart lunged for her across the table top.

"I think she was kidding." Clark offered, putting his arm between the two and pushing Bart back into his part of the booth.

"But that's the closest thing to a yes I've gotten since I've known her. I'll take it."

"Dream on, Impulse." She added, picking up one of Clark's fries and chucking them at him. Bart, of course, caught it easily. Damn superspeed. Why couldn't she have that one?

"Anyway, you two are definitely free to attend the wedding of the century or whatever." Bart finished, reaching across to help himself to her soda bread. "Look on the bright side. You know the munchies there are going to be amazing. Rich guys only eat the best."

Clark snorted. "Even odds say we end up eating snails or something. If I had that much money I'd just eat burgers and steak all day."

"And your arteries would be closed up in no time." Chloe added, giving him a wink. No one else in the Bros (they so needed a new name) knew the extent of Clark's abilities or anything about his origins. That was up to him to share. For now, she wasn't going to advertise he never got sick unless he said it was okay.

Even if she had her own ability now, she was still his secret keeper.

"But there's wedding cake, tell me that'll be good and then sneak me a piece."

Chloe sighed. "Doubtful. Lana has impeccable taste but she prefers carrot cake. When I get married, it's chocolate or nothing."

Bart shuddered. "Carrot cake? Yuck. That's not even worth speed crashing the evil empire to get a taste of."

"I know." She agreed.

"I like carrot cake."

"You would." They both chorused.

"That's so wholesome and All-American that I'm not surprised, amigo."

"Yeah, Clark, if this were the 1940s, they'd have scouted you out for Allied propaganda now about the American Way of Life, which, is ironic considering no one at this table is exactly average."

"Hey!" Bart said, offended, "I'm German on my grandmother's side."

"I said propaganda not all Germans are evil." Chloe corrected.

"Uh-huh." Bart said, finishing off the rest of his dinner. "Still, you've got your secret super cover down, man. You're more bland than bland."

"What's so boring about carrot cake?"

"They took the most amazing invention in human history---cake----and put vegetables in it. That's just a mortal sin or should be." Chloe said.

He held up both his hands. "I give up."

Chloe smiled at Bart. "I think we tag-teamed him."

"Me too. See, Chloelicious, we work well together." He grinned lasciviously up at her. "Wanna see what else we can do together."

"Sure, just make sure we're finished before your bed time. It's up to nine o'clock now, right."

Bart brought a hand to his chest. "That's cold, Chloe." He collapsed on the table, his shaggy hair falling in his eyes. After a few moments of blessed silence, he looked up at Clark. "How do you deal with her man?"

"It helps if you're pretty much invulnerable."

"You know, I can hurt you now."

"Correction. It used to help being pretty much invulnerable." He shrugged. "Chlo's pretty much an unstoppable force. Either you learn how to deal with her or get the heck out of her way."

She smiled sweetly across the table to the boys and patted the top of Clark's hand and Bart's head. "That's what I like to hear. All I'm asking for is a little cooperation. Now, how about some dessert?"

"Can we have the apple tart thingy or eight of those?" Bart asked, picking up his head completely from the table.

Chloe eyed both her boys with superspeed metabolisms and then she dug into her wallet, just double checking to make sure she had enough cash to cover everything. "Fine, make it eleven though. I'd actually like to have a bite this time."

Clark's cheeks turned predictably red. "I eat one slice of cake too many and I never hear the end of it."

"It was my birthday cake."

"Details."

"Do you think this is the right shade?" Nell asked critically, as she handled the delicate petals of the iris in front of her.

Lana stepped up next to her aunt and squinted at the flower arrangement. Then she frowned. "Not really, I was hoping for something a little more understated, like a nice periwinkle, maybe. This arrangement is just a touch too violet. Mrs. Kent, Chloe, what do you guys think?"

Chloe stepped forward and looked down at the flower. It looked purple to her, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. The four of them had been going over the arrangements for the wedding all day. Double checking that the linens and place settings and even the silver lighters provided for the guests (whether they smoked or not) were all up to snuff. Lex, of course, had hired a team of wedding planners, but Nell had wanted a final run through of everything just to make sure her niece had the very best. After the last few hours with the critical side of Aunt Nell, Chloe felt very sorry for whichever designer in Paris had been responsible for making Lana's dress.

Nell was almost impossible to please.

So far the lighters had been too flimsy, the calligraphy for the place cards had been too sloppy, and the bouquet's flowers had been too wilted. Currently they were looking at the flowers set aside to decorate the pews at church, and Chloe had the sinking suspicion they wouldn't be passing muster either.

"They look okay."

"Well okay isn't good enough. Not for the biggest wedding in corporate history. We can do so much better than this."

Over her shoulder, Chloe could just catch Martha frowning. She'd been on the business end of all of Nell's critiques over the years. Chloe had gotten the details once from Lana after a late night of mid-term studying when both their brains had felt like Jell-O and Lana's inhibitions had been cut to zero. Once upon a time, in high school, Nell and Jonathan Kent had dated. The relationship had fallen apart naturally after high school ended, but Nell had always been spiteful toward Martha for snagging what she couldn't hold onto. She'd also made flower ordering a true bitch for Martha as well.

Lana looked between Chloe and her aunt, still deciding whose advice to follow. After a second's hesitation, she nodded and walked over with her aunt to the head arranger, ready to argue about the mess they'd been given.

Chloe still wasn't sure how they thought they could get everything fixed by tomorrow. On the other hand, she'd never had access to billions of dollars and a name that stuck fear into the hearts of everybody. Lex had once put on a fairy tale wedding in two weeks. He'd had months to plan this and the money to fly in anything from anywhere. Lana would be the perfect princess at this farce if it took every cent he had. And it looked like Nell intended to spend quite a bit of it today.

Chloe sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting area that cost more than her car, and watched the scene unfold. They were too far away from her to hear, but she could interpret the red flush to Nell's face and the exuberant arm-waving easily. Lana, for her part, looked slightly chagrinned, but stood obediently at her aunt's side. Yeah. This was definitely going to take a while.

Martha sighed beside her and sat down on another ridiculously overpriced chair that had the sad misfortune to be overstuffed and (what else) floral patterned. "Well, this certainly has been excruciating."

"I think the polite word to put in that sentence would have been fun."

Martha smirked and it was odd to see because of how formal and sincere she was on the farm. "But I'm not in polite company now, am I?"

"Nope. Feel free to be honest around a reporter and I promise you everything is off the record."

"You might be missing out on a real deal by not being quite as intrepid today. You, my dear, have the inside track on all the wedding planning details. Cat Grant and Lois would probably sell their souls for gossip this juicy."

"And I'm not into the tabloid stuff. Besides," she said, rubbing at her sore calves, "I'm only doing this as a favor to Lana."

"You're a better friend than I. I wouldn't want to sit through all the debates over which color works better----bone or ivory----if I could avoid it."

"And yet you're here doing the favor for me."

Her smirk widened. "I might have been doing a favor to two parties. I'm also here trying to make sure Nell doesn't buy Lionel out of house and home. I don't know if you can spend 10 billion dollars in one day, but if anyone could, it would be Nell Potter."

Chloe nodded but said nothing. Personally, she wanted Martha to be involved with Lionel as much as she wanted Lana and Lex together, but her cousin had sworn that Martha just wasn't interested in Lionel that way. Still, Chloe wondered why her surrogate family was tied so damn close to the family that kept trying to kill and torture her.

It made dinner conversation awkward at group gatherings: "Oh, pass the peas. Too bad you didn't manage to blow me up that one time, huh?"

Good thing awkward Thanksgivings and tense wedding receptions were part of a grand American tradition.

"So," Martha said, that trademark Kent sincerity creeping into her tone, "how are you holding up?"

"Better. The nightmares aren't so bad and since Clark spends most nights with me---thanks for loosening the sleepover restrictions, by the way----I can actually sleep through the night."

"That's good. And practice is going well, I take it."

She nodded again. "Yeah, um, Clark took me to the Fortress to test out a few theories of his and they all panned out."

"I see." Martha smiled. "Clark…he seems really happy with the flying. He'd done it before, I'd seen him do it, but he never wanted to practice with either his father or me after. We both chocked it up to a fear of heights and so much else was going on that year with the crystals and then later with Jonathan…we never got around to getting him over it."

"Yeah. I don't think flying was something he was too thrilled with, at first, but we traded me and my uncomfortable exploration of my powers for his."

Martha bit her lower lip before continuing. "But he seems to really enjoy it now. He brought me back some soda bread from your trip and it was wonderful."

"I know. He's really proud of it."

"And I think it's adorable how you and Bart have been calling him Might Mouse all weekend."

"He does enjoy that, doesn't he?" Chloe rolled her eyes. "Boys. The two of them together are going to eat you right out of house and home and the state."

"But I do love both of them. I was worried about Bart after he left the first time. I'm glad the Green Arrow's been able to take such good care of him."

"He's a good guy, most of the time. Can't fault the Robin Hood schtick if robbing from the rich and greedy of Metropolis leads to opening up hospices and keeping orphanages running."

"I know. So," Martha added, inhaling. "Have you talked to your father recently?"

"I called him the night after Clark busted me out of 33.1. He'd left some frantic calls on my voice mail and I had to do damage control and make-up some story about a busted battery."

"But you haven't talked to him since. It's been eight days, Chloe."

"I know, but I have no idea what to tell him or Lois. They'll both be back in the States soon and I just…I don't know. If I tell Lois, I'll end up with my very own front page story in The Inquisitor, which so was not a life goal of mine. And my dad. Well, no parent wants to be told their kid's a freak of nature."

Martha started stroking the back of Chloe's hair and she leaned into the contact. Now that her hair was long enough, she'd had the passing urge to ask Martha to braid it for her. She'd never had her mom around to do those girly things with her and Lois was hopeless at hair. And Martha had obviously never had a daughter.

It might have been nice, even if her hair ended up looking like a rope.

"You're not a freak."

"I'm a mutant. I can't tell my dad that, I just can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it'd be like telling him I had some sort of terrible disease, and I sort of do. This is genetic after all. It wouldn't just be me. Even if I had grand kids, they'd be like this too."

"I don't think there'd be anything you could do that would make your father stop loving you, and, you know I love you like my own daughter Chloe, but you've tested out the extent of his love before. There are a lot of more petty people who might resent their children a little for forcing them underground or getting them fired. I know it wasn't your fault, that Lionel was taking advantage of a child, but the results were disastrous."

"You're telling me."

"And I still remember dinner the night after the verdict came out. Your dad was sitting at our table bragging on about how proud he was of you and how brave you were. He was unemployed and he'd almost died but he couldn't have cared less because you were his hero. Nothing you could do would ever change that."

"We'll see. I mean, he loved mom too, but he had her committed."

Martha stopped stroking her hair and let her hand drop to her side. "I…he what?"

"My mom's in a mental hospital in Granville. She's been there since I was five and he didn't even tell me. His name is on the commitment papers. I know. I hacked their database."

"You know as a representative of the Kansas government, I should remind you at this point that hacking into medical records is highly illegal."

"I know, but sometimes you just need to know things, especially when life saving or meteor mutant thrashing is involved."

"I'm off the clock today anyway," she added, going back to stroking Chloe's hair. "Your mother's sick isn't she?"

"Yeah, the doctors aren't sure what she has. They couldn't quite agree on a diagnosis. Half of the specialist want to put it down as a personality disorder and the others think it's catatonic schizophrenia."

"Chloe, you know deep down that your dad didn't do that because he stopped loving your mother. He couldn't take care of a five-year-old and her at the same time so he put her where she'd get the best care."

Chloe swiped at her watering eyes. She had pollen allergies, after all. "I know and the logs have him visiting every weekend even now, but what if he decides that being in Belle Reve is what I need? A lot of meteor freaks---"

"Chloe don't."

"Well that's the correct term, isn't it? And it's a valid point. Meteor infection doesn't exactly do wonders for mental stability. Add in that schizophrenia's hereditary and I should have a whole wing just for me."

Martha sighed. "You really do have a penchant for catastrophizing, don't you? Maybe you should be a creative writer sometime. You're perfectly sane now, I promise you that. Hell, you're more stable than half of my co-workers in the hallowed halls of the capitol. You aren't going to Belle Reve."

"I know or at least I want to believe that. Still, it's a lot to put on somebody. Like I told Clark, you guys knew what you were getting into when you brought him home. You agreed to have a special needs kid."

Martha nodded. "We did, but we didn't know what that meant. Seventeen years ago if you'd shown me that little boy and told me he'd be able to shoot fire out of his eyes or fly, I wouldn't have believed you."

"Off the record, if you knew then what you knew now, would you---"

"I'd have taken him home no matter what. He's my son, but raising him has definitely been filled with surprises. All parents get surprises though. Kids seem to think up new and creative ways to leave us all prematurely grey."

"Like accruing mortal enemies?"

"Or running off to the big city to be a criminal. That's a mortal, no powers mistake, and we still love him despite it. Chloe, your dad needs to know about all of this. You can't keep it from him. Clark and I, we love you, but we're not blood. There are some things that you're just going to want to share with him and you can't close him out like this. You can decide what to do with Lois---you two are so close now, it'd be a shame for you to lose that---but you need to call your dad and invite him to the farm."

"I'll think about it."

"Chloe---"

"Like you said, you're not my parent. I can decide this on my own. I appreciate everything you've done for me by letting me stay out at the farm and by coming with me today to make sure Lex doesn't get a second shot, but this is something I need to figure out on my own."

"I see," Martha said, frowning, but didn't add any more.

A few minutes later, Nell and Lana returned, triumphant in their quest for better flowers, and then they sat through a very awkward lunch. Nell filled it more or less with her rants about various details of the wedding and she spoke almost in a monologue with Martha nodding or asking questions in the appropriate places. Chloe picked at her food, her salad with a dressing with a fancy name she couldn't hope to pronounce and the smallest chicken breast she'd ever seen. She was with her boys. She didn't understand why rich people ate nothing actually appetizing. Although she focused mostly on her plate, every time she looked up, she caught Lana staring at her. Lana was frowning, as if she were trying to figure something out, but she didn't look disgusted with her.

That was a moderate relief.

"Well," Nell said, finally finishing her, "That was a delightful lunch, but Lana and I have to be heading off. We have our final fittings for the wedding and then some honeymoon details to iron out. You can never trust five star hotels, no matter what they advertise."

"You don't say." Martha said, using all her political training to appear politely interested.

"I know. It's just that the fittings might run long, but they are so important," She said, glaring at Chloe.

Chloe refrained from her natural inclination to be snippy back to Nell. Yeah, she'd missed the final fitting thanks to Clark taking up residence in her lap, but it wasn't her fault. You try and tell a Kryptonian he can't sit somewhere, or, for that matter, try to unwrap his anaconda grip.

"I'm sorry about the fitting. I'm sure the dress will be fine anyway."

"Yes, well, next time maybe you won't bring the ex-boyfriend like some sort of trophy to the fitting." Nell said, her fingers clinching tightly around the flatware.

"While I agree that Chloe and Clark might not have been the most tactful when they visited the manor, I don't think she set out to ruin the wedding either." Martha interrupted.

"Yes, well there is such a thing as rubbing it in someone else's face too, Martha. I'm sure Chloe's just thrilled to be the consolation prize. And, considering his overall worth, I'm sure Clark's a fine catch."

"His worth?"

"Well, college drop-out and farmer hardly seem like the credentials for someone with great earning power or even adequate earning power, but Chloe is one of those girls who's always pretty much taken care of herself."

"I see." Martha replied and Chloe could tell that it was taking every ounce of patience she had to keep from throttling Nell. Lana, for her part, was staring down as intently at her meal as Chloe had been.

"I mean, reporters obviously don't make fantastic salaries. The editor-in-chief of the planet might make a respectable living, but being poor as a church mouse might appeal to some people. Nothing like making the bank loan officers your best friends, right Martha?"

"No, I suppose there's not."

"Of course, there is always the hope of settling up with a man of means like her cousin Lois almost did and like Lana has managed to do. It was such a shame about the Queen boy too, but then Lois always did have such a big mouth. Her faux paus are legendary. I think she has the record on shortest time ever to humiliate herself publicly. She was a great hit at all the parties."

"Which I'm sure you were invited to." Chloe said, turning to Nell, no longer interested in keeping the peace for Lana's sake.

"Well I've heard. We're not in the upper class quite yet, but Dean has a very high-paying job with the premiere insurance provider in the city."

"But you weren't there. Lois got invited and I bet that bugs you. She might be a little too honest, but that's one of her best qualities, and I know for a fact that Oliver loved her very much."

"And yet he's the one on a world tour without his intrepid reporter."

Which was true but taking down 33.1 installations was not something that you could bring a date too. Unless, you happened to already be dating someone in the Justice Bros, which would be a little awkward, although she got a certain vibe from A.C. and Victor. "Who Lois and I date or don't date really isn't any of your damn business, Nell. And putting down Clark is pretty low even for you. If you're that interested in all that station stuff and name recognition, he is the son of a woman who's a shoe-win for the United States senate next election." And with Lionel and his influential friends backing Martha, there was little doubt she'd lose. "Honestly, I'd be more worried about my own niece than her best friend."

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Lex is not a good man. He's dangerous and he hurts people and not just in the bankrupting their businesses sense. Marrying into that family is going to ruin her. It sure as Hell didn't do any good for Lillian Luthor."

"How dare you!"

"Oh please. How dare you with your fake Metropolitan attitude. I was born and bred here and so was Martha. We're the city girls and you're the poser, and I'm sorry I have to say this about Lex and I'm sorry it keeps coming up, but I can't watch Lana go down the aisle tomorrow unless I knew I'd done everything to stop it."

"Why you jealous---"

"Enough!" Lana said, throwing down her napkin. "I've already heard all your complaints before Chloe."

"See, you little rat." Nell said.

"No, Aunt Nell. I've also had enough of you bullying every person Lex has hired and berating my three best friends." Actually, by Chloe's count, she, Lois, and Clark were also Lana's only friends, which was pretty sad.

"Lana—" Nell started.

"Lana, I'm sorry." Chloe echoed.

"No, you're not. Aunt Nell, you've been getting a huge thrill out of pretending to be rich and the swelled head to match and Chloe, you're taking this ridiculous vendetta you have against Lex too far. As far as I'm concerned, the only person gracious enough to deserve to be there tomorrow is Mrs. Kent. I just…I need some air." She finished, heading for the restroom.

Chloe pulled nervously on her linen napkin. "Well that was awkward."

"Chloe, why don't you go check on Lana? Nell and I have a few things to go over. It's been a while since I was a debutante, but I think I have a few pointers to impart so that she doesn't embarrass herself tomorrow." Martha said, giving Chloe a small smile.

"Alright." Chloe said, getting up and following after Lana.

She found Lana curled up in the high-backed sofa in the entrance room to the actual bathroom. Apparently the rich also like to congregate before they urinate. Who knew? "Lana?"

She looked up at her, fresh tears on her cheeks. "Chloe, I kind of wanted a minute."

"Hence the dramatic exit. I totally give it a nine."

Lana sat up all the way and scooted to the side, leaving room for Chloe on the sofa. She also reached up and, taking a handkerchief, dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "Hormones."

"Sorry, I forget how hard it must be being pregnant. I know there's a lot of stress on you, not to mention the wedding prep. I shouldn't have gotten into a fight with Nell. It's just the things she said…I couldn't let her insult my family."

"Clark's a part of that now, huh?"

"Yeah, granted the guy saves my life on a weekly basis, but when he keeps you from living the rest of your life as a lab rat, that's when he's permanently cemented as family."

"I see." Lana said, putting her head in her hands. "When did everything get so different?"

"Define different?"

"When did we get to the point where Clark and I weren't even talking to each other and at every turn you and I are fighting? How'd we do that?"

"Lex helped."

"He's not as bad as you think he is."

"He experimented on me Lana. How can you justify that?"

Lana looked at her and that same look of confusion was in her eyes, like she was listening to her own internal debate. Chloe could almost see Angel!Lana and Devil!Lana on each shoulder. "Can you prove he was behind it?"

"What?"

"You said you were in a lab and Clark helped pull you out of it. But was it marked with Luthorcorp logos? Were any of the doctors employees of Lex's? You can google anybody, don't tell me you didn't double check them. Was Lex even there?"

"No." Lana was right about one thing. Chloe couldn't prove Lex was behind what had happened. She'd been half unconscious the entire time, but she'd caught the name of one doctor Cyrus McCreedy, but he wasn't tied officially to Luthorcorp as far as she could tell. He was listed as an employee of Innotech Labs, and she suspected that it was a satellite corporation tied to Luthorcorp, but she couldn't prove it. Lex was not Olliver Queen. He'd been trained by the best in how not to get caught. Even if she could tie the doctor to Luthorcorp, she'd have to prove she's been taken and tie it to Lex directly. As with Victor, Lex would probably be able to claim that he wasn't even aware that Innotech had been acquired by his company. It was all a tangled maze that put all the burden of proof on her.

There was a reason the Bros hadn't been able to take Lex down by going public.

It was going to take a lot to catch him with a scalpel in his hands, and that was about the only way Lana would believe that he was involved.

"Then how can you be sure? Maybe someone else was capturing meteor freaks."

Chloe flinched involuntarily at the term, which was stupid because she'd been the one to come up with it. "While I know there are other sources of evil in the world than the Luthor family, I also know that it was Lex. He took me. He admitted it to me when he summoned me into his office last time I was at the mansion. Clark was there too. He heard everything."

"Chloe, Lex is the man I'm going to marry tomorrow, in fact. The father of my child. I can't just go on hearsay if I'm going to leave him at the altar."

"'If?'"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't have second thoughts, but I love Lex and it's what's best for the baby. Besides, it looks like Clark is definitely off the market."

If she didn't hate him so much, Chloe would have felt bad for Lex that his future marital bliss actually hinged on whether or not Lana could get a back up boyfriend or not. It didn't make Lana look too good either. "But what if it isn't good for the baby to be raised by not one but two amoral psychotics. Lionel and Lex are both very dangerous."

"And they've both been nothing but generous and solicitous to me. Well, maybe not Lionel, but I don't think he's going to hurt his grandchild either." She answered, letting her left hand stray over her stomach

Chloe frowned and bit her lower lip. "Is there anything I can say to make you not go through with this?"

"No," Lana said, shaking her head.

"Will you at least talk to Lex. I don't think he'd tell the truth and come clean with is Dr. Moreau ways, but you've been lied to enough by Lex to know when he's misleading you. Just ask him about why he called me into his office. Ask him about 33.1."

"Fine. I will. I trust Lex." Lana replied, her chin held high, but Chloe noticed how her eyes shifted to the left as she spoke. Lana didn't trust Lex, not completely. Honestly, after the number Clark had done on Lana, Chloe wondered if she'd ever trust anyone again. Not that it was Clark's fault, exactly. He'd been trying to protect himself. Everything had just become so hopelessly complicated

"I hope you do." Chloe said, sighing. "I promised to be your maid of honor because you're my best friend. I'll still stand up with you. I'll even keep my mouth shut the entire time. I won't like it, but I don't think I can stop you either."

"You can't."

"For the record, I really don't think it's a winning idea to marry evil incarnate."

"So you've stated, very vocally."

"I know." Chloe said, leaning over and giving Lana a quick hug. The other girl stiffened in her grip and she let go instantly, standing up. "Oh…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break into your personal bubble."

Lana looked up at her, her eyes still glistening. "I didn't mean—"

"I think you did." Chloe said, shaking her head. "You're scared."

"I'm not."

"You're a terrible liar, almost as bad as Clark."

Lana swallowed hard. "Maybe a little then, but you can't blame me for that. I've been stalked by more meteor freaks than anybody. I've been drowned by a gill boy, locked in a sarcophagus by a bone morpher, and almost stabbed by an insane teleporter. Excuse me if I'm a little jumpy."

"But I'm your friend. You know me."

"I thought I did, but I didn't know that you could smash through Formica until last week."

"I didn't know until last week. I don't even know how I got infected or when, but I just started manifesting."

Lana frowned. "But Clark said he'd been covering for you all this time."

Oh shit. "That's not, what I meant was---"

"No. Either he's lying---like that's a huge surprise----or you are. If you two can't even be honest about your mutation, Chloe, how am I supposed to believe everything you've been saying to slander Lex?"

"I'm not slandering anyone. Lex sliced me open like a fetal pig."

"Uh-huh." Lana paused for a minute and that damned confused look was clouding her eyes again. "Would it really be so bad?"

"What?"

"33.1. I mean, not for all the meteor mutants, not the sane ones like you and Tobias, but what if there was a place where all the dangerous ones were locked away from innocent people. You can't tell me you wouldn't want criminals put behind bars."

"I would, that's true. I'll admit I was as afraid of Alicia Baker as you were and just as glad when Tina was taken away or Ian for that matter. There are some very dangerous people out there with some seriously damaging powers, but that's not what he's doing. It's not altruistic or for the greater good. He's just in it to find a way to exploit all of us---the evil and the innocent. Besides, even prisons have a standard of living, Belle Reve too, come to think of it. I highly doubt you can get a GED in 33.1 or have once daily cable TV access or, oh yeah, not be cut open."

"Maybe."

"Maybe? These are people we're talking about. People whose lives he's destroying. Don't you care?"

"I do care. I just don't want to be stalked or threatened with murder all the time. If it comes down to me or them, me and my child, I'm going to choose us. I'm sure not going to shed a tear when they lock those psychos away."

"When it's me will it matter?" Chloe said, pushing her hair back from her face. She was sorely tempted to start quoting that old parable from WWII about when they came for the Jews and eventually for me. If Lex was allowed to hurt just the meteor mutants, he wasn't going to stop. He was going to make a lot of people, normal or not, suffer if no one stopped him.

Lana was going to be one of them.

"Of course it would matter, but he's not going to hurt you. He probably didn't to begin with."

"Ask him and then we'll see who's right." Chloe said, glancing at her watch. "Look we've been in here forever. Martha and Nell are going to wonder if we fell in or something. You've got preparations, and I've got to go off and do freak things."

"Chloe don't be like that. Don't make me choose between you and my fiancé."

Clear implication was that despite everything Chloe'd done for her over the years, Lana would still choose Lex. She'd like to say she was surprised. She wasn't. Lana had lived in her home for two years. She and her father had taken care of her even after her dad had lost his job and every meal had been Ramen Noodles or Hamburger Helper. Lana had never once said thank you.

In fact, come to think of it, she'd accused Chloe of not making her feel like family enough.

"I won't, but I think it's fair to warn you that I'm not asking you to choose between me and him. I'm asking you to choose between justice and evil. Don't side with Lex. Please, just think it over."

Lana rose from the sofa and pushed open the swinging door. "I will, but I don't think it will change things."

"Then I'm sorry." And Chloe really was because things were going to get ugly between Lex and Oliver's team and anyone caught on Lex's side was going to go down with him.

"I wish I could believe that." Lana said, exiting, letting the door swing back and forth behind her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Speed Cleaning**

"So, let me get this straight. Lex abducted the future mother of my children, you busted her out and then he decided to kick her out on her ass?" If Bart ever needed another reason not to like old Cue Ball, and, honestly, being caught and experimented on was good enough for him, knowing that he'd hurt Chloe was it. Every member of the Bros liked Watchtower and had been upset when neither she nor Clark had been able to join their mission. Bart, however, really had fallen hard for the snarky blond whose infectious smile had had him hooked since he breezed through Smallville two years earlier.

Clark rolled his eyes as he wrapped up more dishes in bubble wrap. "She's not the future mother of your children."

"She will be. I, mi amigo, will not be deterred by being told no a few times."

"I think it's more than a few times by now."

"That's not the point, Stretch." Bart continued. "I'm not the kind of guy to take 'no' for an answer."

"Obviously."

"I'm serious. I might dig the chiquitas down in Cancun and enjoy the thrill of some quick make-out sessions."

"Very quick." Clark commented, easily ducking the coffee mug Bart chucked at him, even in superspeed. Stupid superior reflexes.

"Not like that. Besides, I don't think Chloe would ever be complaining if she sampled all I have to offer."

"Uh-huh. That's very romantic, Bart."

"You doubt my sincerity on this thing. I can do the romantic part. I am more than just incredibly witty one-liners and ingenious pick-up lines."

"You don't say."

"No, really, I could totally sweep Chloe off her feet and not just in the literal whooshed to Buenos Aires kind of way." Granted, he had never had a girlfriend before what with the whole being struck by lightening thing and ending up on the lamb but he'd been charming girls from here to So Cal. He could do more than just go the player route if he tried, he just knew it. Besides, Chloelicious was so worth it.

"Right." Clark, said, noncommittally as he boxed up yet another set of flatware.

For two girls who lived off of Domino's and Talon brownies, Chloe and Lois sure had collected a lot of cookware. Clark and Bart were both working at superspeed to get the stuff packed up and back to the farm before Chloe and Martha got back from Metropolis. Still, the suck end of superspeed was that your perception shifted right along with it. Even though to anyone else it looked like the dishes had magically just been packed up, to the two of them, it felt like hours. Bart was so incredibly bored. Only his golden little goddess could keep him still for this long.

"See, you've only seen player Bart, which, while I agree is totally a cool guy, is also not the guy Chloe's gonna go for. But I can up my game. She wants the romantic dinner and dancing date thing, I can so do that. I'm sure I can wrestle us up something sweet in Star City."

"You mean Oliver's name and credit card can."

Bart shook his head as he started in on organizing the Tupperware. "That's cold man. Sure, it'd be Ollie's money, but it's not like he's using it for a better purpose."

"Only saving the free world from an army of Lex-engineered supermutants."

"Tcha, whatever. When's the last time he had any fun with all his Benjamins. I mean, he whined and dined Lois----another fin choice, the Sullivan-Lane gene pool is fantastic, by the way----and then now? Bam, total hermit. I tell you, man, the four of you leave me with little hope for future heroes."

"The four of us?"

"Yeah, Ollie's all firmly ridden, well private-jetted, off into the sunset. Victor practically has a shrine up to Catherine, and sometimes I get that vibe off of you like you've got one for Lana." Bart said, shrugging. He couldn't always get a read on Clark. The guy was always so reserved and in check with how he really felt, unless he was giving you a lecture to remind you how irresponsible you were being. As if the guy weren't capable of enjoying side trips to Miami for pleasure. Puh-leaze. Still, he had heard some of the juicy soap opera details of the Lang-Luthor-Kent triangle from both Ollie and Victor. Although, since he'd breezed into Smallville to reclaim his lady love, he'd been getting the vibe that Clark was a lot more into Chloe now.

Well that was okay. Bring it on. Bart was so much cooler than Clark, even if he did have like a million superpowers.

"I wouldn't say I've got a shrine and I'm over Lana now, Scout's honor." Clark said, moving over to Lois's desk and beginning to box up various office supplies.

"Uh-huh. Oh and then there's A.C. pacing by the phone muttering out loud to himself about giving Lois a call."

"Doesn't the fact she just broke up with Ollie put the kibosh on that?" Clark asked, picking up the girl in question's printer.

"Well, Ollie never actually told A.C. that he'd been dating Lois. He told me and Vic on the down low."

"Well that's mature and surely not going to come back to bite him in the ass."

"Whatever. I'm just leaving that mess between them, not that Vic and I haven't taken bets on who's going to win that throw down."

"So, just out of curiosity---"

"Ollie, please. The guy may not be superpowered but those arrows are sharp." Off Clark's arched eyebrow he added, "I might have accidentally grazed myself just inspecting one of his bows."

"You were playing with his arrows weren't you?"

"Officially no, but unofficially, dude, we're talking arrows. It's all Robin Hood without the gay tights, how can a guy resist?"

Clark rolled his eyes and Bart shook his head. Figures. St. Clark never had any fun unless he was dragged out into it kicking and screaming. "So between the four of us, you've concluded that superheroes suck at dating."

"Pretty much. I mean, I know I'm younger than you guys and have less of the life experience…" As if that were so important. "…but there's gotta be some way to date and be as fine as we are."

"Uh-huh. You try explaining to a date why you just have to run off for no reason."

"Okay, so I've been the love 'em and leave 'em type with the Spring Breakesque lovin', but there's gotta be a girl out there who'd get this. I know Chloelicious does."

"Well," Clark added thoughtfully while unplugging Lois's electric pencil sharpener. "She doesn't count. She's one of us."

"Before the powers, doofus."

"She was there for the first big joint mission of the Bros." He stopped and frowned. "That really is pretty sexist. We are going to have to find a better official or even unofficial name."

"Superfriends?"

"No more Saturday morning cartoons for you."

"X-men?"

"Taken and yet equally sexist."

"See this naming stuff is hard business and, between you and me, Ollie really sucks at it."

"He didn't come up with the Green Arrow Bandit," Clark offered, gesturing to Lois's dismantled desk.

"No, I guess not, but 'Impulse' and 'Boy Scout' both suck."

"I think he was trying to punish us just as much as he was trying to name us."

Bart paused and stroked his chin. "Still, I do kind of like the ring of 'Aquaman' and 'Cyborg.' Now those are names."

"Less stopping and resting, more packing."

Bart rolled his eyes. What a freaking killjoy. You had to love the guy, what with that whole earnest trying to save the world one puppy at a time routine, but he still got on anyone's nerves. He eyed the dressers in the bedroom and zipped right over, only to find himself blocked by Clark.

"Nice try."

"But…underwear. Come on, dude, we're talking lacy little things that Chloe's only previously worn in my fantasies. I just want to make sure they get the careful packing they deserve."

"First of all, Chloe wears a tank top and striped cotton pants to bed, the kind that go all the way down to the ankles. Second, she packed all her clothes up over a week ago and they're at the farm."

"Third?" Bart asked, chewing back all the indignation that came with knowing that Clark had seen his future bride's sleep wear first.

"Those are Lois's."

"Even better. I bet she's a teddy type."

"Ollie'd kill you."

"He'd have to catch me first."

"I'd help."

Bart frowned at him. "If I don't pack them, then you're going to have to. Do you wanna touch Lois's undies?"

"I don't want to touch Lois's anything." Clark said, picking up a roll of duct tape. "Besides, I'm furniture guy. I'm going just tape everything shut and zip on over to the farm. It doesn't matter much to me if it's 'heavier' or not."

"Oh just rub it in how strong you are."

"You're faster."

"Say it again."

"Once is enough." He said, tossing part the roll. "Make yourself useful and tape up all the kitchen and office and knick-knack boxes, would you?"

He zipped back throughout the apartment, taping up everything as fast as he could, but stopping at the knick-knack box. He never could understand girls. Chloe and Lois had managed to collect random bronze statues of things and decorative ceramic whatevers. The small collection of army paraphernalia he understood. After all, Ollie had told him Lois was an army brat. The typewriter, which he was so glad he wasn't carrying, he also got. It had been some special 18th birthday gift for Chloe from her two best friends. He could see how she'd wanna keep that. But zebra patterned salt shakers? He'd never understand having those around.

Girls would be so much better off if they lived like guys. You had your clothes, your two pairs of shoes (nice and sneaker), tons of magazines kept around for the, um, articles, and more electronics than a Radio Shack. That was it. Quick and easy to pack and nothing that needed freaking bubble wrap.

"Are we almost done yet? This is taking for-freaking-ever?"

"We've only been here ten minutes."

"But it feels like forever," Bart whined sitting down on the sofa.

"Why are you stopping?"

"I have serious ADD man, besides we're packed except for the furniture. I assume the only thing you need help with is dismantling the bed. Even you can't get that thing down the fire escape in one piece. The windows so won't allow it."

"True," Clark conceded, walking over to the bed. "Ready to disassemble with me."

"Whatever Johnny 5." Off Clark's open-mouthed stare, Bart added. "Please, you're like three years older than me, tops. Besides, we had HBO."

Clark just shook his head and pulled out the Allen wrench he'd brought with him. "So, you really are serious about romancing Chloe, huh?"

"Dead serious, man. She's worth it."

"You do know she has a boyfriend."

"You keep saying that, but I never see him around." Bart frowned and looked up at Clark. "It's not you, is it? Because, dude, we're friends and it's cool if you already have a shot with her. I won't be mad at you or anything."

"Her boyfriend's name is…was Jimmy Olsen."

"Shit, he didn't die did he?"

"No," Clark said, pulling out the bed slats. "She hasn't called him since I broke her out of Lex's lab. She hasn't given him the official news yet that it's over, but she hasn't really been in Metropolis lately to deliver the news."

"Ever heard of a phone?"

"She's been putting a lot of things off lately. I've tried to talk her into some stuff, and now I'm sure mom's guilt tripping her into some stuff too."

"Stuff like officially breaking up with the guy keeping me from my true love."

"Laying it on a little thick there, buddy." Clark said. "Hey, would you help me with the headboard?"

"Why? You can pick it up."

"Yeah, it's light but a little awkward to grab. Come on, you aren't such a scrawny little weakling you can't give me a hand, are you?"

"Oh I'll show you scrawny." Bart answered, grabbing his half of the headboard. Just because he couldn't bench press a tractor like a few guys he knew (Victor and even A.C. were surprisingly strong), didn't mean he was a girl or anything. They lifted it up together in perfect synchrony and set the headboard back on the ground. "See?" Bart asked, beaming. "Who's weak now?"

"Thanks. That reverse psychology stuff really works."

"Jerk."

"Hey, you offered your speedster services. I was just making sure the girls got the royal treatment from you. Okay," he said, clapping his hands together. "Let's get this stuff back to the farm."

"Race you for it?"

"No racing. We're going fast enough so no one sees, but if we break anything, Chloe will kill us but not before she lets Lois have a few rounds with us. Not cool."

"Ah, you're no fun. Besides, I'm not afraid of the Sullivan-Lane cousins."

"You should be."

Bart whistled. As far as he could tell, Clark was pretty much invulnerable. Maybe he really should tempt his beloved's wrath. Plus, he'd heard Lois had gone a few rounds with the Arrow and Oliver had felt it in the morning. God, you really had to love that gene pool. "So, before we do the heavy lifting, at least in my case, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," Clark said, walking over to the fridge and grabbing two bottles of water and tossing one to him.

"So why did Chloe break-up with what's-his-face? If it was serious enough for you two to keep reminding me of it every few minutes, you'd think he'd be the first person she'd call after she got paroled."

"Why don't you live at home?"

"See, that's the difference." Bart said, taking a swig of his water. "I lived at home for six months after everything happened. I gave it a shot even though it was super awkward, just like Victor and Catherine tried to make a go of it. You and Ollie cut your girls off without even letting them try the no-holds-barred, living with a superhero route."

Clark leaned against the counter. "First of all, Lana was never really my girl. Considering how fast she fell into bed with Lex, I sometimes wonder if us dating ever really meant that much to her to begin with."

"Heard the term 'rebound guy' before? Seriously, if she had to rebound, I could see why she'd do it with a billionaire. Heck if he wasn't evil and I swung that way, I'd date him." Clark just stared at him like he'd just suggested they both eat slugs or something. "Oh, come on, I've seen Daddy Warbucks's garage. For a genuine Spyder, I'd do a lot of things."

"All legal and above the board."

"Impulse's honor." Bart said, giving Clark a mock salute. "What's you second-of-all?"

"There's a lot more at stake with me than there is with the rest of you."

"Oh that's not narcissistic. Just because you apparently hoarded all the good superpowers, doesn't mean your cooler than the rest of us."

"I know and I didn't mean to have like ten of them. If you'd like heat vision, feel free to take it. That one's more trouble than it's worth."

"Yeah, but if you gotta get flambéd, in the middle of sex is probably the preferable way to go."

"I'm gonna kill Chloe."

"Don't blame, Chloelicious," Bart said, laughing, "That one's too funny not to share."

"The rest of the Bros don't know, do they?"

"That's something she shared with me since I got here. Secret's safe for a few more days, my friend."

"That's a relief." Clark deadpanned. "Can I pay you off to be quiet?"

"Depends, how much you got?"

"About twenty bucks and a discount coupon for feed."

"Like that's worth my while. Still, just because you have, um, a few more special needs than the rest of us, doesn't make you better than us."

Clark sighed and sat down at one of the stools by the counter. "I didn't say I was better than you. I just said things were a little more complicated for me."

"More complicated than Oliver and his crime-spree double identity?"

"Much. I…it's hard to explain."

"Especially without the explaining part." Bart shrugged. "I get it. It's cool. Can't say I hadn't figured out that there were a few things you were holding back from us. I'm a little disappointed, but I didn't come out and tell you all about the Bros to begin with either."

"So you're saying you're deferring to my better judgment?"

"Without all the big words, but, yeah, it's cool. Still, it's a shame about Chloe. I mean, it's great news for me since she's apparently on the market again, but it sucks that she lost her boyfriend. She's not going to even try to tell him."

"It's her business. I can't exactly give love life advice."

"That's for damn sure."

"Besides, she's a little embarrassed about everything?"

"Yeah, I sort of got that vibe." 

"You did?"

"Don't let the devastatingly handsome exterior fool you. I'm a pretty smart guy. I've been here a few days and she's been big with the telling not so much with the showing."

"I know. It's---"

"Complicated." Bart shook his head. "I think 'complicated' is just something you old fogies use as an excuse or to get people to stop talking. Whatever it is can't be that big a deal. A.C.'s part, there's nothing lamer than that."

Clark laughed. "Pretty much."

Bart zipped over to the pantry and pulled out an unopened box of cookies and started wolfing them down. Super-packing took a lot of energy, after all. "I bet what she can do is a lot cooler than talking to goldfish, am I right?"

"Oh it's cool, plus she's looks beautiful doing it."

"Obviously. She's hot all the time. I bet even coming out of the shower."

"Don't you wish?"

"Often and frequently. So, now that she is on the market, having opted out the superhero wuss route of not committing to relationship, any wooing tips?"

Clark blushed and reached for a handful or Oreos. "Well, actually, you see…the thing is, um---"

"I knew it. You so are Chloe's boyfriend. The other guy never existed."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Jimmy Olsen's real, I can assure you. You can google him on the Planet's website if you don't believe me. I think his bio has some random fact about him collecting butterflies on the side."

"Well that's manly."

"He's a nice enough guy. It's just that---"

"He took Chloe."

"I don't think anyone takes Chloe anywhere."

"You know what I mean. He's been distracting Chloe all year while you've been doing that moping-slash-pining thing you do so well. You know, man, this is the part where I'm supposed to encourage you in your own cupid-sponsored adventures with Chloe."

"But?"

"When am I ever going to get a shot like this again?"

Clark laughed. "Good luck to you. She's shot me down like five times this week."

"Still less than me, but, you wouldn't mind a little competition in the wooing department, would you?"

"Personally, Bart, I don't think she's ready to date anybody. Thank Lex and the post-traumatic stress for a lot of that, but if you're wooing her ends up with her laughing and getting tons of flowers to brighten her day, it'd be nice."

"She'll laugh with me, Mighty Mouse, with me."

"Keep telling yourself that." Clark said, finishing off the box of cookies. Until he'd met Clark, Bart had never known anyone who could pack away the calories the way he could. Still, he wished he'd gotten the last cookie.

"So, it's okay if I continue with the flirting?"

"I don't think you could be near Chloe and not flirt with her, but, yeah, knock yourself out." Clark said, laughing softly to himself.

Despite the fact that he'd gotten the green light for full-on Chloe pursuit, Bart couldn't shake the feeling that Clark was humoring him. Just because the other guy had a million superpowers, and had been quarterback, and knew Chloe better than anybody, and was about thirty stories tall didn't mean he'd just automatically win. Of course, Bart also saw the way the two of them looked at each other. That he couldn't compete with. However, if he still managed to bring a smile to Chloelicious's face and maybe earn a peck on the cheek for his efforts, it'd be so worth it.

If it forced Clark to up his game from just asking Chloe out, so much the better.

"So," Bart said, picking up the nearest box, "You ready?"

"Yup."

They spent the next ten minutes speeding back and forth from the Talon to Clark's barn. Bart was fast and he had pretty good stamina from months spent on missions with the Bros, but box after box got tiring. For him anyway. Clark carried everything from the headboard to the table to the sleeper sofa and didn't even break a sweat. Next time Bart had to move, he was definitely calling Clark. Not that he owned that many possessions.

After a while, they'd both ended up at the Talon together. Clark had managed to move all the furniture. The only things left were the boxes of kitchen stuff, which Bart seriously doubted they had to move since the girls didn't even cook. In point of fact and from what he'd heard from Ollie who once had the "fortune" of having Lois bake him a birthday cake, it was much better for the world if the Sullivan-Lane girls didn't bake. Bart was hefting up yet another box when someone called out from behind him.

"Smallville? What the Hell have you done with my stuff and why the Hell does some rugrat have his grubby paws all over the rest of it?"

Bart turned around and smiled appreciatively at Lois. While he dreamed of marrying Chloe, staring at Lois wasn't a bad way to pass the day either. The photo on Ollie's nightstand didn't do her justice. She'd been dressed in a fairly conservative cocktail dress in the photo. Right in front of him, she was wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt and Bart was just a little smitten with her, ahem, assets.

"Hey there, kitten, don't worry about a thing. The Bart-man's taking care of it."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Lois, this is my friend Bart Allen. Bart Allen, this is Lois Lane." He leaned down to Bart and whispered under his breath, "Behave."

Lois was not amused. "First, I only talk to people who are actually five feet tall."

"Hey! I'm five-eight." (If he stood on tip-toe, but come on, like people didn't always lie about their height.)

"Right." Lois added, dismissing him. He wasn't going to take it personally. If he'd come back to his apartment and found everything just gone, he'd be pretty pissed too. She took a few steps toward Clark and Bart had a feeling he was about to see Lois's karate skills first hand. "I'll ask again: Where's the rest of my stuff?"

"Oh gee, Lois, you weren't supposed to be back from Geneva for another few days."

"Hanging out with the General was less fun than even expected. Plus, he had an emergency reassignment. If it were a week later, my apartment would have been completely shut up."

"It's funny you should put it that way," Clark fumbled.

Bart rolled his eyes. How the other guy went from Boy Scout to bumbling in 0.5 seconds, he'd never know. "Mi…Stretch, just show it to her."

Clark sighed and pulled out the notice of eviction from his jeans' pocket. "Lois, I might have some bad news."

Lois took the notice from him, read it, and then crumpled it into a ball. She then threw the ball down on the floor and stomped on it with her impressively heeled boot. "I'm going to kill him."

"Join the club and take a number, Chiquita. You can be behind Clark, Chloe, and me."

"You hate Lex? Have you even met him?"

"Just the once, but that's sufficient for life-long loathing."

"Point." Lois stared back at Clark, and from his vantage point, Bart could see a vein in her temple throb. "Why did I get evicted?"

"Lex is a dick."

"Good answer too, but I wasn't talking to you, small fry."

That settled it. Even if she was under stress, Lois could be kind of mean. Chloe was definitely the pick of that litter. "Well there is more to it than that, I'll give you that."

"Yeah, um," Clark stuttered. "Chloe might have managed to piss him off."

Lois frowned. "That doesn't surprise me much. Ooh," she added, relaxing her stance, "She didn't finally nail the bastard, did she?"

"No, but she's close," Clark hedged, "and it made him mad enough to end your lease. Bart's a friend of Chloe's and he and I have been moving stuff out all day before it becomes property of Luthorcorp."

"Cool."

Bart and Clark both blinked. "'Cool?' Five minutes ago, you wanted to beat me and Clark into creamed corn and now it's cool?"

Lois shook her head. "Look if I have to live in a pup tent so that the evil truth about Luthor, Jr. can be revealed to the world, I'll do it. Besides, I lived at the farm before. One more time won't be so bad. Right, Clarkie?"

"Clarkie?" Bart asked, laughing. Lois was pretty cool if her sinister snark powers weren't directed at you.

"It's NOT a nickname." Clark pouted. "Look, Lois, we've got it almost all handled here. One more load and we're done."

"Well, I'm not some stupid damsel in distress. Give me a box and point me to your truck."

Right. The truck. The truck that was parked in the Kents' driveway because when you ran faster than sound, motor vehicles were pretty much an afterthought. Bart turned to Clark and watched, half-amused and half-pitingly, as the guy floundered for an explanation. He was so going to have to up his game if he ever wanted to pull the double identity thing Ollie was doing.

"Clark, man, why don't you take the boxes down to the truck, I wanna run something by Lois."

"Huh?"

Bart rolled his eyes. "Just go down to the truck, Clarkie."

"Okay." Clark said, hurrying down the front stairs with two heavy boxes stacked on top of each other and a pair of skis under his arm.

"Lois, I think your talents could be put to better use elsewhere."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Bart said, putting an arm around her shoulder and then shrinking back when she glared at him. Okay, no touching. That was cool. "See most people want that security deposit back, which, I think we can agree, you are not getting back."

"I'm listening."

"What you need to do is find some way to really trash this place, make it difficult to re-rent."

She nodded. "I'm liking this better and better."

"Let's say that while Clark and I make our final run to the farm, you happen to accidentally leave some fresh fish lying around by the radiator and leave the heat turned up to 80."

"I don't have any fish on me."

"But here's the genius part, you go grab the fish from the deli and hide it like an Easter egg. Can you imagine the look on Uncle Fester's face when he smells it."

Lois grinned and it scared him just a little. "I like the way you think, kid, even if you are a midget."

Bart ignored the crack and put his arm one more time around her shoulder. "Lois, this is the start of a beautiful relationship."

800-245-2244


	10. Chapter 10

**Casting the Die**

"Hey, I've been looking all over the mansion for you." Lex said, entering into the nursery and putting his hands on Lana's shoulders as she rocked in the chair. She relaxed into his grip, enjoying the feel of his strong hands kneading her shoulders. She always felt protected with him and that reminded her of the better parts of being with Clark. She always felt cherished and important, too. Something that she had not always felt with her former lover. There were just too many secrets between them, and she'd always felt that there was something bigger he was involved in that just didn't concern her.

That feeling of being excluded had hurt the worst, far more than the feeling of being deceived.

She was not a fool. She knew that there were things Lex kept from her. Lex was never completely honest with anybody, a Luthorian trait bred into him since day one by Lionel. She didn't know anything about what he did day-to-day in his business, nor did she care. About the important things, the life-changing stuff, Lex never lied.

He'd told her about the ship and about his deals with Fine. He'd told her that he loved her and the baby, and she believed in that.

She had too.

Yet, what Chloe and Clark had said weighed heavily on her mind. Lex had denied that 33.1 had ever existed. He'd sworn to her that it had just been a delusion in their attacker's mind and an urban legend only foolish cub reporters pursued. It wasn't real. He didn't violate peoples' rights like that.

But maybe he did. She'd always known that Chloe'd been jealous of her. She'd won Clark, after all, and she also knew that although Clark apparently no longer wanted her, he was upset that she'd chosen Lex as his replacement. Maybe everything they'd said had been out of spite.

She just didn't know, and there was only one way to be sure.

"Lex?"

"Mm?" He asked, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on the crown of her head.

Lana took a deep breath, steeling her nerves as she continued, "What happened to Tobias?"

"Huh?"

"Tobias Rice. You promised he'd get his surgery."

"He did."

She stood up and twisted out of his grasp. She needed to think clearly when they spoke. She couldn't let pregnancy hormones and need get the better of her, not this time. "No more lies. Where'd you take him?"

"I brought him to a facility I had set up. He's been in the care of some very well-trained specialists."

And there it was with Lex. The key to his success. He never ever said anything that wasn't at least partially true, and, as a result, he always believed in what he was saying. Where Clark was obvious in his lies, Lex was smooth. Where Clark naturally bucked against the untruths, Lex bought into them, became invested in them. You just never knew.

"I'm serious. I want to know everything. I want to know if 33.1 is real. If Tobias is being used as some sort of meteor freak detector against his will. I want to know if you abducted Chloe."

"Lana." Lex said, frowning. "I don't know where all this is coming from."

She shook her head. It wasn't good enough this time. "Clark was at Chloe's final dress fitting. We had a fight, and she told me that you'd taken her because she's a meteor freak."

"Those sure are a lot of accusations to fit into one sentence." Lex said coolly.

"She was pretty sincere about the whole thing. Clark, too, and we both know that Clark couldn't lie to save his life."

"Or to keep you." Lex said, his tone still politely detached. This was the boardroom Lex she was dealing with. The one who weighed everything carefully and always had every angle covered. The one with all the answers.

"There is that," she conceded, not taking the bait and being drawn into a guilt trip about her residual feelings for Clark. "But I don't think they were lying."

"You really think Chloe's a meteor mutant? I know she's spent her life exposing them, but to actually be one is quite a leap."

"I saw her. At my bachelorette party, I saw her use her power. I know what she can do. If that part's true, then maybe the rest of it is too." She shook her head. "You know me, Lex. You know how I feel about lying. I won't be lied to about this. Whatever slightly shady deal you've pulled to get one over on Wayne or Queen Industries, I don't care about. You can fib about that all you want, but I won't have something that concerns my friends just swept under the rug. If you're not honest with me right now, that's it. I'm leaving."

Lex took in a deep breath and flinched like she'd struck him. No, scratch that. Like Clark had sucker-punched him. When he spoke, his whole demeanor changed. It was no longer the cool and collected corporate Titan she was dealing with. It was the lost little boy, the sensitive side that she was pretty sure only she, Lionel and Helen Bryce had ever seen.

Maybe Clark, too. Once upon a time.

"That's two then."

"Huh?"

"Helen. I did something underhanded and confessed it to her. She called off the wedding. She changed her mind, of course. Nothing like the promise of billions to lure out the black widow." He gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know why I expected this marriage to go any better than the other two."

Lana sighed and restrained the urge to pat his cheek and tell him that everything was going to be alright. Not now. He'd have to be a grown up here. Come to think of it, so would she. "I do love you."

"Not as much as him."

"Not the same as him." She corrected, and it was true. Clark was the boy next door, while Lex was the father of her child. They were two very different kinds of love. What she'd had with Clark was more romantic, much more Romeo and Juliet. What she had with Lex was infinitely more complicated and, she hoped, more real. "But that's not the issue. All you have to do is answer one question, Lex. Is there a 33.1?"

He swallowed. "And if I said 'yes?' What would happen then?"

Well that was the answer she was looking for. That might be as close to admitting 33.1 existed as Lex would ever come. Lana fought back the vertigo. Her world was turning upside down and she most certainly had not asked for it. A month ago, she'd been in Paris planning her dream wedding and now she was trying to figure out if Lex was worth marrying.

"I…I don't know."

"Would you still leave?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough."

"This isn't a business deal. I can't give you a counter offer, Lex."

"Everything is negotiable, and, as much as I love you, it's still a contract, something legally binding. How does the deal change if I came clean to you?"

"Haven't you already?"

"I've given you hypotheticals. I've neither admitted nor denied anything."

There were a lot of days she wished she were a lawyer or, at least, had inherited her biological father's sense for logic and arguments. "Then tell me!" She said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"What will you give me in return? Will you still be here in the morning?"

"I can promise you I won't be here in an hour if you refuse. I don't care if I live in a cardboard box and eat tuna for the rest of my life. I'm not get married to someone I don't know. I won't have you lying to our child and spinning happy stories for her either."

"Lana…" he started, reaching for her hand.

She batted it away. "No, not this time. Don't placate me. Is there a 33.1? Yes or no?'

"Lana…" he said again.

"I'm done," she said, shaking her head and starting out the doorway. What she heard next was so faint that she thought she'd imagined it. But then he said it again, louder.

"Yes."

She turned back and saw Lex, his shoulders slouched and his head bowed. His voice was even and as cool as it ever was, but she could hear how ragged his breathing was. He didn't want her to leave. "What?"

"Yes. 33.1 exists. I've been running it for almost three years."

"Since the day your father was sentenced."

He nodded. "Since the day the company was officially mine. My father had already started meteor rock experiments at the plant. I was just building off of what he'd started. So I started collecting the most dangerous criminals, taking them off of Belle Reve's hands and the taxpayers' wallets. I found some others, too. Ones who weren't meteor-infected, like the foreign exchange student."

"Mikhail?"

He nodded. "He tried to kill Chloe. Threatened to blackmail Clark into throwing the championship. He's dangerous and there as well."

Lana nodded and sat back down in the rocker. This was all too much. "If what you're doing is so noble, why'd you lie to me before?"

"I didn't want you to know. It's like the black ship. This is all very top secret. I've got military contracts in on this and, although I trust you with my life, I didn't want to get you dragged into the cross fire if things fell apart."

"I see, and what about Chloe and Tobias?"

"Tobias will get the best medical help available, but I have not yet arranged for his surgery. I need him."

"To find the others, like Chloe. But she didn't do anything. Why take her?"

He sighed and knelt down in front of her. "I know you love her like a sister and you trust her now, but that might change. You know better than I do that many of the meteor mutants start out perfectly sane and pleasant and then…"

"They change."

"Part of the project has been putting trackers in the ones that haven't yet become dangerous. I wasn't going to keep Chloe locked away. I was just putting a GPS chip in her, like with dozens of others."

"Dozens?" Lana gulped.

"Maybe several hundred by now. If we can keep track of the ones that haven't manifested psychosis yet, keep a close eye on them, we might be able to stop them before they hurt anyone. If someone had kept an eye on Tina, had known when she'd escaped from Belle Reve, then Van McNulty's father would still be alive. Mrs. Fordman wouldn't have gone through all that suffering."

"I…I guess that makes sense."

"I do not love Chloe like you do. She's been quite the thorn in my side lately, but I know how much she means to you, and I do respect her. We might not be on the same side of things anymore, but I do admire an opponent that intelligent and, frankly, dangerous. I wouldn't turn her into some kind of lab rat. In fact, I resent the term. I think our patients are treated much better than the ones at Belle Reve."

Lana nodded. "I would imagine so." Lex had tons more money and probably had established a nice set-up for the meteor-afflicted in his care. Besides, she'd visited Belle Reve just once. She'd gone, against all her better judgment, to see Van and thank him for saving her life.

She could still smell the place. It wreaked that badly of ammonia and urine.

Anything had to be better than that.

Lex reached up and stroked her hair, and she relaxed once again into the gesture. Lex wasn't hurting anybody. He was trying to protect people, just like he had with the black ship and Fine. It hadn't worked, but he'd tried so hard to prepare against another invasion after what had happened on graduation day. He'd been right to do it because Zod and Fine hadn't followed far behind those things.

Lex could save her, keep her safe. Keep their baby safe.

Chloe was just confused; that was all.

"What I'm doing is no more harmful than the treatment at Belle Reve or in prison. It's much better in fact. I'm trying to help them, maybe find a way to undo it, if that's possible. I have the best scientists working on it."

Lana frowned. "Why would you even care about curing it? As long as we keep them from hurting the rest of us, I can't say I care much else about what happens to them." And that was mostly true. She loved Chloe and was extremely sorry for her, but she could care less if Ian ever regained a normal life.

Lex sighed and started unbuttoning the collar of his shirt. Lana started to ask him a question, but he shook his head, silencing her until his collar bone was completely exposed. He picked up her hand and brought it to a point right under his carotid. "I know you can't feel it, but it's there."

Her frown deepened. She was more confused than before. "I…I don't understand."

"I have a tracker, too, just in case. Considering Lionel's my father, it's a miracle I didn't go on a killing spree the second I woke up in Smallville Medical after the first shower."

She shook her head. What he was saying didn't make any sense. "I'm still a little lost here."

"I've been meteor-infected too. It's not just my hair, Lana, although I can assure you it's nothing nearly as spectacular as what Chloe can do. It's a bit more along the lines of what Tobias does."

"I…how?"

"It's one of the few meteor powers that can't be used against anybody else. Actually it doesn't benefit anyone but me."

Lana took a deep breath and suddenly felt very stupid. Of course, she should have known. Everyone in town----Hell everyone in the free world----knew that Lex Luthor had been bald since the meteor shower. The fact that he was a mutant was obvious for anyone with working eyeballs (and apparently Tobias) to see. Still, she'd never associated bald with mutant powers. God, everyone she knew was a meteor mutant: Clark, Chloe, her fiancé. On the plus side, none of them had tried to kill her. Clark had abducted her lately and strangled her that one time, but none of them had tried to kill her when they weren't clearly drunk or meteor-infected (silver kind not green).

Inhaling, she asked, "What do you do?"

Lex smiled a little, apparently encouraged by her not running from the room in screaming horror, which she wouldn't have done. She wasn't exactly comfortable around the meteor-infected, but she did want to give the ones like Tobias and Clark a fair chance. As long as no one tried to stalk her, she wasn't going to hate them outright for no reason. She was still nervous, though. You couldn't blame her for that.

"I heal."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a heightened immune system. I haven't been sick since the shower and I heal faster than normal people do. I thought you might have noticed last year when we were working together. I still wore the sling for weeks, but my arm healed up from the gunshot wound within a few days. I was afraid that since we were spending so much time together, you might have noticed me not favoring it as much as I should have."

"Oh." Honestly, the next week, Lex had kissed her, Mr. Kent had died, and she'd put her relationship with Clark on hold. She'd been so mired in her own pain and confusion that she hadn't had time to notice the presence of a sling. "I'm still confused."

Lex nodded and leaned in closer to her, taking her hand in his. "What about?"

"Why would you keep people in 33.1 if they're like you?"

Lex face contorted as if he'd tasted something incredibly bitter. "They are not like me. 33.1 is a lockdown facility. Only the psychotic are housed there. The harmless are left free-range until they, too, have a break with reality."

"Too?"

"Most go psychotic, you know that. We both know that. I and Chloe have just been luckier than most, so far, but I don't intend for that to happen to me. If that means keeping an extra close watch on the meteor mutants who are already insane and trying to figure out what made them that way, then so be it. I consider the unfortunate experimentation necessary for the sake of my family."

Family? Oh God. Involuntarily, Lana grabbed for her stomach. Some story Lois had once told her about the foster daughter of Mrs. Kent's first chief of staff came back to her. She was a little girl who could manipulate anything made out of glass. A girl, who though perfectly sweet and friendly (at least if you were Clark, big surprise there), had managed to inadvertently injure people when she got excited. And she had inherited her power from her father, a mutant who'd been in the first shower. "You think the baby is affected too."

"I know she's affected. It might be what I have."

"Might?"

He shrugged. "Or it could be a variant of what you have or some combination of the two."

Lana felt her heart speed up as if she'd just finished a triathlon. She must have misheard him. Hell, maybe she was just having one long nightmare starting with her bachelorette party and none of this was real. "I…I'm normal."

He shook his head. "When I first procured Tobias, I had him come to the mansion. I had feared that our daughter might be afflicted and I wanted to know for sure. I wanted to be able to start planning as early as possible in case she had special needs. You were sleeping, but I brought him into your room for a look. He was able to tell that the baby was infected, which I'd suspected, but he also told me about you."

"I'm not anything! This is crazy" She said, trying to rise to her feet.

Lex kept a firm grip on her lap as he spoke, "Tobias is never wrong, and he's only able to pick up those who've been affected by meteorite poisoning. We've tested his ability on Mikhail and several other what we call metahumans who grew up outside of Smallville. He noticed nothing different about them."

"But I don't have any powers."

Lex stroked her hand gently. "And until your night of bowling fun, neither had Chloe. You, however, have had a power all along. You just haven't realized that you've been using it."

"No."

"Lana, you wore a piece of meteor rock around your neck, twenty-four hours a day, for twelve years. You've had more exposure than anyone else in this town. Is it that surprising that you've been infected?"

She shook her head. It wasn't true. It just wasn't. "I've never felt any different."

"And you wouldn't, although, I suspect after piecing everything together that your power didn't manifest until puberty."

"How would you even know what it is, if I didn't know?" She demanded.

"We analyzed some of your blood that you'd been giving the doctors for your weekly check-ups."

"You analyzed my blood without asking me? Maybe Chloe's right about all of this. How could you violate me like that?"

"First of all, you already consented to have your blood drawn. The remainder of the sample was used to measure your health and make sure the pregnancy was progressing well, which, considering the parents' unique genetic make up, it is. Or at least as well as can be expected. Second of all, if I had asked, you would have refused."

"That's how consent works." She spat, pulling her hand away.

"And that's my child in there too and I need to know everything about you to keep her safe and healthy."

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over chest. "And what did you find, then?"

"Traces of a pheromone-like compound. It's fascinating really. We distilled a sample of it and discovered that it only attracts other meteor mutants. Any other metas and humans are immune to it."

"So you're saying?"

"You've been attracting your own stalkers all along. You didn't mean to, of course, but you have. It explains why so many of them have come after you."

She reeled back with the news. If she'd been attracting meteor mutants to her, then a lot of things made sense. It explained why she had a legion of stalkers, why Clark had been crushing on her since he was five, why a man as worldly as Lex had fallen for a country girl. Maybe nothing anyone important in her life had ever felt for her had been real.

God, what if no one really loved her?

Broken, she croaked out, "Is that why you love me?"

"No." He said, taking both her hands in his once more and staring up at her sincerely. "I fell in love with you because you were my partner and my equal. You worked with me on The Talon and with the black ship. You've believed in me all along when my other so-called friends abandoned me, even when the world was falling apart. You're the mother of my child. I love you."

"So the magical pheromones you say I have had nothing to do with it?" She asked, her insecurity still gnawing at her.

"You're an intoxicating woman despite your powers. Jason, Adam, and Whitney all knew that and they weren't meteor mutants."

She noticed he'd left a name off of his list. Maybe Tobias had outted Clark to him. She knew that Chloe and Clark had met with Tobias a few times before Lex had scooped him up. That's how Chloe'd been identified. Head still spinning, she asked, "And Clark?"

Lex rose and waited for her to do the same. "In the spirit of full disclosure, I have one more thing to show you."

Lana closed her eyes and took in a few more deep breaths, trying to find her center. She didn't know which rabbit hole she'd fallen through, but she sure as Hell wanted to pop back out of it. Still, she was clearly deep in it now. Although she still did not believe Lex's insinuation about her own ability, she did believe what he'd told her about himself and their child. Van McNulty, after all, had gone after Lex. Chloe'd figured it out and had the suspicious medical records to prove it. She was in this, whether she wanted to be or not, whether she left him or not. Opening her eyes, she took his proffered hand and steeled her nerves. "Show me."

She thought she'd understood obsession before. She'd been stalked by more than her fair share of people, after all (even a few non-mutants). The Torch had been a testament to Chloe's obsession with all the oddities in Smallville. Clark's loft was strewn with astronomy texts and star maps, and she'd watched Lex puzzle over the black ship right along with her for months.

But she'd understood nothing.

The room in front of her was beyond creepy. It was as large as a warehouse and how he'd manage to carve out such a large space in an antique stone mansion and have it blend in so seamlessly with the rest of it, she'd never know. In the center were the remains of a car. At least she thought it'd been a car. Currently, it was crushed into 3-by-3 cube. It was set beside a computerized simulation of a sports car crashing into a person, over and over again.

And that was just the beginning.

There were photos of Clark, some he must have had stolen from the Kents' family albums and others that had been taken without Clark knowing. There were dozens of candid shots, spanning the entire time that Lex had known Clark. The last one was taken only a few days ago according to the time stamp on its bottom corner. There were other things too, she realized, as she leafed through his files. There was a copy of Clark's birth certificate and of his adoption papers and of every school record he'd ever had. They spanned from the first day of kindergarten all the way to the last paper he'd turned in for his History of Journalism class the week before his father had died.

A few of the documents---the birth and adoption certificates, his medical records, the hospital report from the day he "died," and a disciplinarian report filed on him when he'd been in first grade---had been set aside in a special red folder. Ear-marked, she realized, because they were the most intriguing. Lana thumbed through the discipline report. She'd been very little, of course, but she'd remembered the day it had happened. The third grade bully, a kid already over a hundred pounds, all of it fat, had decided to pound Pete into hamburger.

Clark hadn't liked that very much, so he'd pushed the kid back before he'd even had the chance to deck Pete. He'd pushed him right through the doors to the playground. The third grader had been in the hospital for a week, and Clark had been suspended. She actually remembered being jealous because he got out of school for a whole week. No one had ever said much about it because, after all, they lived in Smallville, the land of Denial.

There were other things in the shrine---for that's obviously what it was---too. None of them school related. There were several glass cases containing three different varieties of meteorites: green, red, and black. There was no sample of silver because the rock that had been mysteriously sent to her had vanished at the mansion. The walls were covered with murals that perfectly recreated the legend from the cave, and in near the cases of meteor rock was what looked like a giant slug. Another computer screen was set up in this corner of the room, playing a simulation of an octagonal disk with even more Kawatchee sigils engraved on it.

"What is all of this?" She finally asked, turning to look at him.

"This is my obsession." Lex answered simply. "Along with the meteor rock research, of course, or maybe just as a side light to it."

"It's all of Clark."

"It is."

"Some of this stuff is from the first month, Hell, the first week you moved to town." A lesser woman would have been threatened, but Lana knew that this wasn't about any feelings Lex might have been harboring toward Clark. One tended not to stab secret crushes with chisels, after all. This was more than that. It was the same annoying question that had been plaguing her since she'd first noticed Clark back.

Lex was even more desperate than she was to know Clark's secret.

Curious to know more, Lana continued, "You've been studying him from day one."

"Less subtly than I hoped. He found this room once, right before you went to Paris, actually. He didn't take it well."

Well that wasn't exactly a shock, but it did explain why Clark had been downright hostile to Lex for the first few weeks of senior year. Even Jason had commented on how cold Clark had been to Lex when he'd unveiled the Crows' new uniforms. She'd never thought much about it until now. "I can imagine."

"I dismantled it once for him, but he didn't appreciate it. After we finally severed our friendship, I reopened it and added more extensively to it than I had before."

She should be appalled and part of her was, but she didn't owe Clark anything anymore. He'd dumped her, after all. Left her devastated and depressed and Lex had saved her from that. Besides, she wanted to know what he'd found.

She needed to know.

"What do you know?" She prodded.

Lex smiled back at her, the kind of grin a wolf wore before devouring the weakest lamb, and she wasn't afraid. Quite the contrary, she was intrigued, drawn in. "Not as much as I'd like, more than you do. Then again, maybe less. I've never shared a bed with him."

She ignored the slightly wounded aspect to his tone. He knew she'd been with Clark first when they got together. Hell, she'd fallen into his arms partially because she'd been so desperate to rebound from Clark. Still, he pouted. Some days his wounded boy act was endearing---that warmth she got knowing that he'd shared something with her he'd never share with anyone else---other days, like today, it grated. "I don't know anything. He dumped me before he let the armor crack, remember?"

Lex nodded and sauntered from the entrance of the room to the crushed cube. "Here's what I know. The first day we met, I hit him with my Porsche at sixty miles an hour and he didn't die. His medical record, birth certificate, and adoption papers are all fakes. Expert fakes, but I know my father's hand, know the experts he prefers and uses. These," he said, gesturing to the red folder. "…are about as real as Monopoly money."

"Why would Lionel do any of that?"

"That I don't know, but Clark's a person who doesn't exist. There's no record of him ever being born, and I regret that that observation was something I failed to make on my own. Jason pointed that out to me at gunpoint, actually."

Lana tensed at the mention of her ex-lover, but the moment's hesitation passed, "Oh."

He shrugged. "That's another long story. Of course, the Kents wouldn't be the first family desperate enough to go to the black market, or maybe they simply took an opportunity that presented itself. They might have found Clark the day of the shower near whatever remained of his real parents and kept him for themselves."

"It's possible," Lana said, but something in that didn't feel right. "What else besides the faked records and the obvious invulnerability?"

"He's tied to the caves, but I can't figure out how, unless he's Kawatchee."

She nodded, growing more intrigued with Lex's theories by the minute. "Yeah, well that's pretty obvious too. He used to spend all his time down there." Lex walked over to a file cabinet and removed a folder, tossing it to her. She started to leaf through it, but frowned. "These are e-mails but they're coded---"

"With the language from the caves. I know. There's dozens of them over a period of two and a half years, all between Clark and a Virgil Swann. Have you ever heard of him?"

"Yeah, we covered him in one of our astronomy classes. He's almost an urban legend, part Howard Hughes and part Bill Gates. Rumor is he retired over a decade before his death and set up a foundation to look for little green me, like SETI but better funded."

"Virgil Swann was a recluse. He only received two visitors after he retired: Clark, twice, with whom he kept up a regular and encoded correspondence, and my father."

Lana flipped through the pages and tried to catch her breath. "I asked him. Point blank, when all that mess happened with Isobel. I wanted to know what she marked on me. I was scared and confused and he fucking lied about being able to read the symbols."

Lex arched an eyebrow at her uncharacteristic profanity. "That's all I know. That and Tobias can't identify him."

"You tested it?"

"The Talon had a large party last week. A new annual event which brought in record numbers. It was very crowded and one lone boy and his aide went by undetected." He shrugged. "It worked out well for me. Tobias identified fifteen other mutants for me that night."

"But not Clark."

"No, whatever he is, he's something different."

Lana nodded and stepped closer to the large slug. She was a girly girl through and through---horses and pink party dresses and everything else. She'd always been squeamish around bugs, especially spiders, but this was different. As repugnant as it was, it drew her in too. She knew what it was. She'd seen Chloe's X-ray (her roommate had proudly displayed it on her home version of the Wall of Weird for months until Gabe made her take it down). It was an alien parasite, infinitely more interesting than those bacteria from Mars she'd read about in her astronomy text.

It was there, bathed in the eerie up-lights illuminating the parasite, that everything finally clicked. She'd had an epiphany moment just once before in her life, that golden moment when everything made sense. That time, it had been for an essay in AP English. Mr. Farnsworth hadn't given an A on a paper in three years, and then it had struck her, this inspiration and insight, while trying to write a paper on "The Love Songs of J. Alfred Prufrock." And everything had been right.

She'd gotten her damn A, too, much to Chloe's seething jealousy.

It was the same now. The documents just a step above something doctored up in a backroom bar, the caves, the connection to the preeminent extraterrestrial researcher on the planet, all of it. "I know."

Lex leaned against the Porsche cube, crossing his arms over his chest. "And that's part of the reason I brought you in on this, besides the obvious threat of being left at the altar without the disclosure. We have always worked well as a team, even when I was blocked with the black ship, even with all these so-called scientists at my disposal, I could count on you for a fresh perspective. Maybe it's your artist's eye."

"Or the fact that I'm the only person who ever saw the thing open and lived to tell the tale. Nothing like first hand experience."

"True." He conceded, "So, tell me then, quid pro quo. What do you know?"

She turned to face him. "Why here?"

"Now you're drawing this out." He said, chuckling a little.

"Maybe a little. The last hour has been nothing but a painful reminder of just how little I do know. It's nice to be in control of something for a change."

"The pace at which I finally get my answer?"

"Perhaps, but I'm serious. If you were an alien, part of an advanced race that presumably had done just a millisecond of homework on Earth, where would you go? If it were up to me, I'd head straight for Washington. If those things had started there, they'd have had the military and the president at their feet inside of an hour. Even if they weren't into ruling the free world, they would have started with a huge city---New York, Paris, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Geneva. They'd have started with the major business centers and capitals of the planet."

"You left out L.A."

"I doubt they wanted air time. Seriously, you're in business. If you're going for a hostile takeover, I assume you go after the head of the company. What's the point in harassing the guy in the mailroom?"

"I'm listening."

"So here's the thing. Those things, Fine, Zod, they all stake out one of the smallest towns in Kansas. Smallville is basically in the middle of nowhere, renowned for its corn crop and high school football program, but they all zeroed in on here first."

"Zod made his way to Metropolis pretty damn fast."

She shook her head. "But that was a side trip. What he wanted was here, just like the others."

"They wanted the caves, whatever they control."

"Probably, but I'm thinking that's not the only draw. There were two meteor showers here inside of sixteen years. You're smarter than I am. You know the odds are astronomical to begin with that a shower of that size would ever make it through Earth's atmosphere. The fact that two did and hit in the exact same place is impossible. Statistically it never should have happened."

"Unless there's something here worth hitting like, say, the caves."

"Okay, let's argue that the caves had some connection to the first shower. That might be a given. But I don't think they did to the second. I think what was already here had the connection, maybe even caused it."

"The stones?" Lex asked, frowning. She could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he worked through the problem.

"Yes but not on their own."

Lex narrowed his eyes. "I know you relish being the story-teller this time around, but I'm not fond of guessing games."

"I spent months going over the records from the first shower."

"And this is not directly answering my question."

"And I'm your fiancé. Last time I checked I wasn't on your payroll." She snapped.

"Point." He said coolly, though with a hint of respect in his voice. She had a feeling not many people dared to talk back to Lex Luthor. Well, screw that, she dared. After everything he'd put her through tonight, she so dared.

Continuing on, enjoying his rapt attention, she added, "Something came down that wasn't a meteor. Something that---"

"…landed. Yeah, I'd heard a rumor of such a thing but the source was a farmer who spent more time drunk than sober, hardly anyone to trust. I half expected him to tell me about the gremlins in his cornfield too."

"But I double and triple checked. I don't know why everyone else missed it, but it's there if you look for it. Zod, the others, they weren't the first. Someone came down seventeen years ago."

"Clark."

"Exactly. I brought up the theory to him and he got all quiet and defensive."

"His usual M.O."

"When I'm asking the ever popular question, 'How'd you do that?'"

He nodded. "I know."

"Everything…it all fits. He knew you were going to come back different. He worked for Fine for months as his T.A. How many first semester freshmen do you know who are T.A.'s? Come on. I gave him one of the stones the day of the meteor shower."

"And someone stole the third one from my office, ripped the door right off its hinges just like the others did to my office after their arrival."

Lana lay back against the stand encasing the parasite and let herself slide carefully down to the floor. She was very tired and had taken more shocks to the system than she had since the day Clark had dumped her. Her fiancé and her child were undeniably meteor mutants. She might be one, although she'd never believe it until she had at least the results of a dozen blood tests in front of her. Lex really was running underground experiments on the psychotic meteor freaks in 33.1, and Clark was one of those things from the ship.

She wanted to go back to her bedroom, curl up under her comforter and never wake up again. It was all too much. How can your life look like one thing and then do a total Monet and become another?

Superficially, she was the soon-to-be wife of the richest man in the country, being groomed to be the perfect society wife and loving mother. Underneath it all, she was caught in a world of monsters and she wasn't sure which side the monsters were even on.

Hell, which side she was on.

Lex sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He had always been so solicitous of her, even now. "You're tired."

"I am." She replied, leaning into him.

He reached out one arm and checked his watch. "We have a wedding in twelve hours, don't we?"

And it was there again, that loveable insecurity that he'd let her see. Lex, despite his upbringing and his hardened demeanor, let his armor crumble for her, and for that she did love him. And yet, 33.1 still bothered her. It sounded like a good idea in theory, but she still had the unsettling feeling that in practice it was much more sinister. "I want that to be true."

"But?"

"If I marry you, I'm tied to 33.1, aren't I? I know about it now, no more plausible deniability."

"That's true, but, honestly, is what I'm doing so wrong? I'm protecting this town and this world from psychopaths with powers the police or even the military couldn't subdue. It might be an extreme measure, but no one else has taken the initiative."

"I know."

"It's us or them."

"The sane or the psychotic?"

"It's more than that." He answered, his voice softening as his hand strayed to her belly. "This is our child. What we learn from the others, with that, we could make her normal or at least keep her healthy. She wouldn't have to grow up terrified with a clock in her head counting down until she went insane."

Lana squeezed his hand. "Is that how you feel?"

"I've wondered if I'd turn out as evil as my father since Julian died. The fear of mental instability is almost a pleasant tickle in comparison."

"But it's not. Not really. You've been to Belle Reve."

"A visit I most blessedly do not remember. But, yes, on long nights alone in my office, I wonder if the darkness I feel creeping in isn't my father's influence but my own insanity. I don't want her going through that."

She placed her left hand over his, her engagement ring resting securely on the back of his hand. This was her family now. As much as she loved Chloe, as much as she felt like the other girl was her sister, she was tied to Lex by blood. She'd been three the last time she'd had a real family. She was not losing this one.

And she couldn't bear losing her daughter to madness, being forced to lock her away in a hellhole like Belle Reve.

And yet there was one nagging fear in the back of her mind. "And Clark? You want him for 33.1, don't you?"

"If I said I did, would it change things?"

"No more lawyer talk. You're going to lock him away, aren't you?"

"You've seen the damage those things can do. He's tried to kill us both. Me a little less than a month ago, if memory serves. I've worked so hard to keep this town safe from all the run of the mill meteor mutants. I couldn't, in good conscience, let something that dangerous run wild. Would you have me wait until after he actually succeeds in choking the life out of you?"

"He was sick, the silver meteor rock."

"And if he gets sick again? Who's going to stop him?"

"No one asked you to save the world." She said, snuggling deeper into him, her voice as small and lispy as it had ever been.

"No, but I'm not going to sit by and watch it be destroyed when I could do something either. At the very least, it's bad for business." He said, laughing weakly.

She gave a forced chuckle, glad for anything to break up the tension. "This doesn't feel right."

"Things done out of necessity rarely do."

Yes, she knew that. There had been nothing comfortable or noble about trying to stab the man she loved, even if she had been doing it for the greater good. It had left her feeling sick and empty. Like now. "So now I know everything, don't I?"

"You do."

"And you're waiting to see whether I walk down the aisle or not."

"I am." He said, caressing her stomach again. "I didn't want this to be so cold and calculating----I respect Chloe and, once upon a time, Clark and I were like brothers----but it's all very Darwin in the end. It's us or them. Her," he said, running his fingers nimbly over the slight swell of her abdomen. "…or them."

Lana sighed. It was a choice that wasn't a choice because she already loved her daughter fiercely. "Us, I choose us."

"Even though you know I'm going to take Clark?"

Then she spoke the words that sealed her as a Luthor so much more than the phrase "I do" ever could. "I know, but could you not do it at the wedding?"

"I'll wait," he answered, giving her a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

Lana snuggled into him and tried desperately to recapture the safe feel of family, that secure and snuggly sensation she hadn't felt since she was three years old and watching Bugs Bunny cartoons in the back of an old station wagon. She couldn't find it.

Yet.

But surely soon.

And she would have known what a futile and foolish hope that was had she been able to see the predatory gleam in Lex's eye and the sickening smirk that crawled across his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Restless**

**Part One – The Bride**

The church was as beautiful as Lana had imagined it would be. Lex had been able to procure St. Patrick's cathedral in downtown Metropolis. Lex was Presbyterian and she was Methodist but St. Patrick's was the biggest church in the city and one of the most impressive structures in the entire country. Though it was dwarfed by the skyscrapers downtown, its spires still rose majestically into the air, and its stone edifice overwhelmed an entire city block.

Inside it was equally overwhelming, the massive stained-glass windows that shone with a myriad of colors which splashed across the stones, the pews so long they seemed endless, the ornate marble pulpit. Lana stood at the altar. She was alone. The entire church was empty and she could almost hear the pounding of her heart echoing against the stone. She was fully dressed, the train of her gown spreading out behind her and hanging over the step she stood on. Her veil fell down her shoulders and felt inexplicably heavy on her neck, but her engagement ring felt heavier still.

She took a deep breath and said the one sentence that was the point of the whole exercise. "I do."

Her words echoed across the barren hall and the finality of it, the feeling of some impossibly heavy door slamming shut behind her, trapping her, was hard to shake. The tears skimmed down her cheeks and she watched as they stained the silk of her dress. She didn't want to be here.

She rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes, desperately trying to find her equilibrium. To find a way to make this stop. When she raised her head, Clark was standing there, and, much to her surprise, he was dressed in the same ragged jeans and t-shirt combo he always wore. He looked just like the same old farmboy she'd always known, whom she'd grown up with.

"Clark? What's going on? Where is everyone else?"

"They're not coming."

"I…I don't understand."

"You called off the wedding a few hours ago and everybody else left."

"I did?"

He reached down and stoked the side of her face and she resisted the urge to flinch. Those hands could crush stone. It was a miracle they'd never shattered her cheekbone all these years. "Yeah, I came to you this morning, confessed how much I still loved you and you agreed to run away from Lex."

"But the baby?"

He let his other hand skim over her belly and it felt wrong, not at all the way it did when Lex stroked it. "You said it didn't matter. That you just couldn't spend the rest of your life with that monster." He leaned down and kissed her, wrapping his fingers in her veil and her dark tresses, pulling her forcefully into him.

Nothing made sense and yet, despite what she knew about him, it felt safe, like it had back in high school and during that too-short summer after high school. They broke apart eventually and he smiled down at her. "I have a surprise for you."

"You do?"

He held at his hand and smiled his most earnest Kent smile. "Do you trust me?"

And she couldn't shake the oddest feeling of déjà vu right then or the fact that her deepest instincts were screaming no inside her head. This was Clark after all. He'd saved her life so many times she'd lost count. Of course, she trusted him. Yes, he'd lied about so many things but she never believed he'd hurt her. Not ever.

Taking his hand, she smiled sweetly up at him and when she answered, her voice was barely above a whisper, "Yes."

Then the world blurred around her and when she could finally focus on everything, she was standing in the middle of a snowy cave. Well, maybe not a cave. Something about it struck her as eerily similar as the cathedral. It had its own frozen spires that rose forty stories above her head and an altar made of pure crystal in front of her. She shivered and started rubbing her arms. It was too cold.

If she stayed her much longer she'd freeze.

And her baby would die.

"Clark?" She asked, reaching up to his shoulder. In their run here, before she'd been able to process the movement, he'd turned his back to her. She could only see the back of his head. At her touch, he still failed to turn.

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"This is home."

"Home? God it's freezing."

He shrugged and when he spoke, his tone was as cold as the landscape around them. "For you, not for us."

"Us?"

And then she saw them. From behind two of the pillars, the things from the Black Ship emerged. Their eyes glowed a Hellish scarlet red. The man spoke, his tone clipped and almost mechanical. There certainly was no feeling in it. "What do you want us to do with her, Kal-El?"

Lana shivered again and dropped both of her hands to her belly. As if anything could protect her against these things. Why'd she come here in the first place? "Clark. Oh God, turn around!"

Clark turned around faster than a human could have ever moved, and when he did, his eyes were as red as the others. "You don't have to do anything. This one is mine."

"Clark, wait," Lana said, backing up. Unfortunately her heels slipped on the ice and she landed hard on her rear. Pain shot up her tail bone and she ignored it as she continued to scurry backwards. "You…you don't want to do this."

"Don't I? We've been waiting to start our conquest for a long time. You're the last witness, not that it matters, but it makes the Namek and Aethyr so frustrated to have let one get away. Can't say I feel any better having been made a fool of by you. Running around on me with Lex and then on him with me."

He blurred down toward her and wrapped his fingers around her throat, pulling her into the air.

Fighting off the familiar blackness, gasping for air, she said. "Stop, please."

He squeezed just a little tighter and she swore she heard something pop. "Don't care."

"The baby." She wheezed.

"Just because you're a slut doesn't mean I'm going to spare your life," he said, paradoxically loosening his grip on her throat at the same time.

She fell to her feet and felt something in her ankle snap on impact. Stupid heels. "But you dropped me."

His eyes glowed deeper and she could see the displacement of heat in front of them. "I was feeling more in the mood for barbeque actually." He turned to the others and gave a brusque nod before looking back to her.

She crawled backwards, scrabbling as fast as she could away from them. The stood watching, amused smiles playing across their lips.

"Now." Clark said and then everything exploded in three separate blasts of heat and light.

Then her flesh burned.

Then she screamed.

Lana bolted upright in bed and reached immediately for her stomach, overjoyed to find it still smooth and to feel the slightest flutter of her fetus against her stomach. They were safe. Taking a few deep breaths, she squinted around the darkness of her room. Everything was alright. As long as she stayed with Lex everything was going to be alright.

Correction.

The sooner Clark was locked away, the sooner everything was going to be alright

**Part Two – The Lost Boy**

He was walking down one of the endless hallways of the Ridge Facility, the fluorescent lights overhead flickered above him as he moved. He tried to slip into superspeed but for some reason couldn't do it. Frustrated, he tried to pick up his pace, to run at least as fast as top human speed, but he couldn't do that. He could only walk on relentlessly, searching for what he'd lost.

He turned down yet another indistinct corridor, and the sight that waited for him almost made him vomit. And he hadn't been sure until that moment that he could do that when he wasn't human. There were two bodies lying on the floor, both female. A girl completely naked, with gaping wound in her side, the blood pooled beside her body already congealed. The shards of glass still erupting through her skin.

Beside her was a much taller girl, her golden hair pulled behind her in a ponytail, and where her entire midsection should have been was a charred gaping hole. Her sightless eyes stared up at him.

Raya and Khyla.

"Oh God."

"Not quite."

He turned around and saw an achingly familiar face in front of him. "Alicia?" 

"Hello Clark," She said, smiling sadly up at him. She loosened the long green scarf around her neck and he flinched when he saw the collection of mottled bruises there. Her neck, itself, was twisted at an awkward angle, and there was at least one vertebra pressing against her skin.

He tried to blur over to her, but growled under his breath when he realized he still couldn't speed. Slowly, hesitantly, he closed the distance between them, reaching out for her neck. "I'm sorry."

She nodded and wrapped up her injury once again. Aside from being a little pale, she looked much as she had in life. The same sweet smile, the same inviting brown eyes. God, he'd missed her. "I know."

He let his hands drop to her shoulders and pulled her close to him, resting his chin on her head. "No, I'm so sorry. I should have believed you. If we hadn't been fighting, you wouldn't have been on the farm alone and you wouldn't be dead. I should have trusted you."

She hugged him tighter. "Well I hadn't exactly earned unquestioned loyalty. I'm sorry about the red meteor rocks. I was scared and desperate and I wasn't thinking straight."

"I know." He pulled back and looked down at her. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but aren't you dead?"

She nodded and then winced. "Damn neck," she muttered. "Yeah, I'm dead and technically I'm not really here now."

"You're not?"

"Nope. This is all just in your head, a manifestation of your eternal and deep-seated guilt."

"Jeez, I thought you were more Feigenbaum and less Freud."

"I was. I always loved the hard sciences best."

"Me too," he said, smiling back at her. "So, alright, you're not 'here' exactly but you're sort of here. Why am I here?"

"You're looking for something."

"Yeah, I know, but it's all fuzzy. There's something I'm supposed to do. I know there is, and I know it's important, but I just can't remember it. I can't find her."

Alicia smiled a little, the right corner of her mouth quirking ever so. "I think you know what you're looking for."

"Chloe?"

She nodded. "Chloe Sullivan, ace reporter. Can't say that I don't find the irony in the fact that the person most dedicated to exposing us vile meteor freaks is one herself."

Huh. Even Dream!Alicia could be a little catty, which might have said more about his subconscious than he was ready to admit. "I…she's sorry, you know. After you died, she took down a lot of her articles, the ones about you and me. Afterwards, her column, it wasn't as spiteful."

"Happy to be of service."

He reached out again and stroked the side of her cheek. "I'm sorry."

"You said that already."

"No. There's more I should have told you. I should have been honest with you before we got married. I should have at least told you the real reason I couldn't go to the sheriff. I'm not meteor-infected."

She rolled her eyes. "You're not getting the subconscious projection thing are you? I know. You're an alien. Though I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. You have no idea how hot the science geek in me finds that. If you'd been little and green not as much, but a real alien. That is so cool."

He chuckled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You and Chloe really could have been great friends. You have a lot in common."

"Hopefully not my insanity streak." She quipped.

He looked away and didn't answer. "It's not your fault. The meteor poisoning, it's not good for anyone. I don't know how long Chloe's still gonna be Chloe."

"Well I recovered, mostly. I still don't think running off to Vegas was the worst idea ever."

"It was fun." He said, smiling.

"Could have been more fun." She added, standing up on tip toe to give him another kiss and reluctantly breaking apart. "But fun's not while you're here."

"Is that why they're here?" He asked, gesturing to Raya and Khyla.

"They're here to prepare you."

"Prepare me for what?"

Alicia shook her head and sighed. "You're going to fail."

"Fail at what?"

"You can't keep Chloe safe."

"No, I can. I promised. I'm going to find her and save her."

"Like you saved the rest of us?" She asked, her tone sincere and sad.

"I can save her." He said, surging past her and around Khyla and Raya's bodies. "I promised and I'm going to keep her safe." He got about five steps, cursing stupid human speed, when Alicia appeared right in front of him.

Stupid dream physics.

"You don't want to keep going, Clark."

"Well I sure as Hell don't want to stay here."

"Clark," she said, putting her hand on his cheek and it was such an achingly familiar feeling. "Don't go any farther. You won't like what you find."

"I have to." He said, pulling out of her grip and moving around her.

"Then I'm truly sorry." She said, and then she and the other two disappeared.

Taking a few shaky breaths, Clark steadied himself and surged forward down the hall, slipping through the large door in front of him. What he saw this time actually did make him throw up. "Oh God," he screamed, leaning over and wretching. He sat there, helpless for a few seconds and loathing the feeling of it, before he was able to crawl to his feet.

Then he rushed to the lab table in front of him.

Chloe was stretched out on it, her complexion ashy and pale, her eyes half-open and glassy. She was naked except for steel bands stretching across her breasts and her hip-bone, keeping her securely tethered to the table. Her stomach was a mess, sliced open with surgical clamps and needles still jutting from it.

He ran over to her, grateful for even that bit of speed, and started shaking her shoulders. "Chloe! Chloe, come on wake up."

Her head fell listlessly to the side. He strained his hearing but could not pick up the comforting beat of her heart. He leaned down over her chest, clinging to the hope that his hearing was as diminished as his speed. Still nothing.

"Oh God, Chloe, come on." He screamed, tugging on the steal around her chest. It would budge, wouldn't crumple in his grasp the way it was supposed to. He pulled again, desperate to get her out of her. If he could get her to the Fortress, maybe he could talk Jor-El into saving her, maybe he could get Oliver or Metropolis General or anybody.

He just couldn't leave her here for Lex's scientists to pick over.

He pulled again and again until his palms bled with the effort and the silver of the steel was slicked scarlet. "Come on!"

"I told you not to come here." Alicia's soft voice sounded behind him.

He turned back to her. "Why'd you do this?"

"I didn't, but he will."

"And what am I supposed to do about that? I've done everything I can to keep her safe. I'm not going to let him take her."

"You can't know that. Lex Luthor always gets what he wants and he wants Chloe chained to a lab table and vivisected into a dozen different pieces."

"So what's left for me to try?"

Alicia didn't answer, but circled once around the table. Pulling off her winter coat, she draped it slowly and respectfully over top the body in front of her. She muttered a quiet prayer and then looked back up at him. "How far are you willing to go?"

"I don't understand."

She undid her scarf again and he swore her neck looked even more raw than before. "I think you do. You had your hand's around his throat and all you had to do was keep squeezing and this would have been fixed."

"I was high. You know that's not me."

"I was talking about my murderer, about what Lois Lane kept you from finishing, but it's interesting you should bring that up." She looked up at him, her eyes wide and earnest. "You know what I told you about the red meteor rocks?"

"That they don't make me do anything I don't want to do."

"You wanted to marry me, didn't you?"

He nodded, his throat dry. "I did."

"And that time in the booth of The Talon, you really did want Chloe."

"Yeah."

"So when you had Lex in your grasp, you wanted to kill him?"

"I…I wasn't thinking straight. Just because I wanted to kill him doesn't make it right."

"No, it's not." She added, shaking her head. "But this," she said, gesturing to Chloe's body, "isn't right either."

"I'm not killing anybody."

"He'd kill you and Chloe, too, after he gets all his answers, of course. He's a scientist as much as I was, probably more. He'll ruin you both."

"I'm going to stop him, but I won't kill him."

"You're loss." She said simply, leaning over to push Chloe's bangs out of her eyes. "I wanted it to work out better for you this time." With that she gasped and fell to the floor, as dead as Khyla and Raya.

As dead as Chloe.

Clark closed his eyes and swallowed, failing to keep her question out of his mind: _How far are you willing to go_?

He honestly didn't know, and the thought scare him more than threat of his own death or even of Chloe's. He didn't want to be like the others, like Zod or Fine, but maybe he'd have to be to win.

**Part Three - The Groom**

He could hear the piano music wafting down the hallway, the simple elegant chords that had echoed through their home in Metropolis until deep into his mother's final illness. It was not her favorite song, but it was the one she played the most skillfully and the one she played the most often.

He opened the doors to his office and was not surprised to find his mother sitting at the piano, her eyes closed in deep concentration.

Leaning against the piano, he shook his head. "Isn't the Moonlight Sonata a little heavy-handed, mother?"

She opened her eyes and frowned at his disrespectful tone. "Well, I could have chosen the Toccatta Fugue in D Minor, but that seemed even more melodramatic and it never sounds right on a piano."

"Funny." He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "I should have expected you to stop by. You always seem to be unable to resist giving unsolicited advice."

"I wish you'd listened to me once in a while."

"So you want to tell me what I've done wrong now or berate me for how evil I've become?"

"I'm your mother. I have to try to save you, even though by this point it is hopeless."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to kill myself in order to keep the supposed rivers of blood from washing over my hands, mother. Besides, if you were so interested in saving my soul, you probably wouldn't have let me take the blame for Julian's death. That's when everything truly started to go wrong."

She eyed him coolly. "You made that decision on your own and let your father jump to his own conclusions."

"I was eleven years old. You were supposed to protect me. That's what parents do. What the Hell is wrong with you and Dad?"

"Temper, Alexander."

"A sign of weakness, beneath a Luthor, I know."

She rose from the bench and started to the doorway in the back of his office. "I was going to say it's unbecoming for a young man to yell at his mother, but I suppose showing weakness would be your primary concern." She shook her head sadly. "I so tried to keep Lionel from molding you, but I failed."

"I suppose you did."

She strode to the doorway and gestured for him to follow. "It's funny you should bring up good parenting, Alexander. I've seen what you've done to keep your daughter safe."

He narrowed his eyes and followed her as the passed into the next room, but instead of passing into the sun room, he found himself standing in the same hallway of Belle Reve in which he'd kept his father. In the padded cell before him was Chloe. Her lips were dry and painfully cracked and her eyes glittered with rage and unrestrained violence. She was struggling fiercely in her jacket, occasionally banging her head against the glass, and swearing loudly.

He stepped back a few steps after a particularly violent hit to the glass that left it shaking.

His mother edged toward the glass and ran a hand over it and he had an odd flashback to the time she took him to the aquarium after he'd first gone bald. She'd fingered every exhibit they'd passed. This was just a slightly more exotic specimen. "You're obsessed with this one, almost as much as you are with the alien."

"I am." He said, sauntering to her side.

"Did you ever wonder why?"

"I try and avoid deep self reflection these days, mom. It keeps me up nights."

"So I've noticed, but this girl holds your interest in a way none of the other mutants do."

"She's a fascinating subject. We've taken a sample of her when she shifted her hand. The composition is similar to the green meteor rocks, not the same frequency of radiation, but still remarkably similar. She's---"

"As close to one of the aliens as you've gotten."

He nodded, "Exactly."

"But it's deeper than that. You know this one. Have known her since she was a child at the corporate Christmas parties and watched her grow into quite the opponent."

"She was always more set against dad than me."

"Not now."

"Fair enough."

Chloe thumped against the glass again and he jumped a little, while his mother remained as calm and collected as she ever had. "But there are so many other reasons besides her power, her history and you know it."

"I know no such thing."

"She's the one closest to you."

"Chloe and I were never all that close."

"You were once upon a time, during a summer I've noticed neither of you have ever discussed with anyone else."

"Yes, well, nothing bond people deeper than mutual hatred of Dad. It's what we had in common for so long."

"I love you."

"It wasn't enough."

She sighed but her demeanor remained as reserved as ever. "No, I suppose it wasn't." She shook her head and glanced back to the snarling girl in her cage. "But you have such similar histories. Mental illness runs in her family, too, and you know that. Your research skill have always been impeccable, even when you were a boy. You're waiting to see if the extra inherited inclination to madness will lead to her psychotic break. You want to see how long it takes before yours comes."

He narrowed his eyes. "It's nice to know insanity runs in the family. Nothing like infanticide to look forward to."

"I'm not sorry about Julian. You grew up with Lionel's head games, would you have honestly left that fate to your brother?"

"We could have left." Lex croaked out, his voice quiet and soft as the terrified eleven year old he'd been.

"No one leaves your father. You know that or you wouldn't have worked so hard to put him away." She tapped on the glass again. "You hate her most because the both of you are in a contest to see who will go mad first and you're not completely sure that you haven't already lost."

"I haven't lost. I may be methodical and cold, but I am not insane."

"Maybe all this invasion nonsense really is all in your head."

"Clark's real enough."

"But not everyone is always out to get you, Alexander."

"They are now. Those things---the aliens and meteor freaks---are dangerous and I won't let them destroy my world."

"And the more you go after them, the more like your father you've become." She shook her head and turned away from Chloe. "You're worse than he ever was, do you know that?"

"I'm not."

"He wanted to save his life too, but that was the whole motivation for his experiments. It's not for yours. You want the power that comes with it. You want to be able to control your own army, you want to have the alien's strength and powers for your own, if you could ever extract them."

"There are side benefits to my research, I won't deny that."

"And you're doing it out of revenge. You hate Chloe because she's seen you at your weakest and she's knows how flawed you truly are. You can't stand having anyone know that. It's why you set up your father and it's why you can't wait to have her back in her cage."

"Maybe that's true too, but, as I've said, those are side benefits. The research I'm doing is saving this town and it will save Lena's life."

His mother arched an eyebrow coolly at him. "Do you really believe that?

"I'm saving my family with this. You, of all people, should understand taking extreme measures to keep your children safe."

His mother said nothing, but turned down the corridor and led him to the next cell over. It was so dark inside that he couldn't see, but she reached to the wall and flipped on the light. Under the flickering halogens, he could make out the form of a little girl curled on her side in the corner. Her hair was matted and filthy. She rocked a little and he could hear incoherent whimpers escape her throat.

She didn't even sound human.

Lex put both his hands to the glass. "Lena?"

The girl looked up at him and he shuddered, her eyes were vacant and empty.

His mother put a hand on his shoulder and leaned into his ear. "You're going to fail and no matter how much suffering you unleash on Chloe and her pet alien, you will not be able to save Lena or yourself."

He turned to his mother, anger flaring in his veins. "What gives you the right to keep popping into my life and condemning all my actions? Why show up now if everything's already lost? Where the Hell were you when I was little and when he was ruining my life?"

"I couldn't come to you then."

"That's not good enough. You don't know the first thing about family. You can't protect your children by killing one of them and blaming the other for the murder. If I have to tear the rest of the world apart for Lena to be safe, I'll do it. I don't care whom I hurt in the process. I'm going to be a better parent than both of you, not that that would be hard!" he finished, turning on his heels and striding down the hall.

"Alexander wait!"

"I'm done waiting," he called over his shoulder, "And I am done humoring you. Don't come again mom. I don't want to hear it."

And with that, he walked willingly into the darkness.

**Part Four** – **The Freak**

Chloe bucked against the restraints pinning her down. There were dozens of scientists around her, their masks obscuring their faces. They looked right through her, seeing only the experiment and not the terrified girl in front of them. They exchanged observations and made an endless stream of notes themselves.

And then, of course, they cut into her.

The first time the scalpel scraped across her stomach, she screamed. "God, please stop."

One of the researchers, a man with cold grey eyes, actually responded to her. "Those aren't our orders."

"Jesus!" She shrieked when the scalpel dug deeper. "Haven't you people ever heard of anesthesia?" She whimpered as the blade nicked something she hoped to God wasn't a vital organ. "Please."

"We're testing pain tolerance." One of the other doctors responded curtly.

"Please, you can't do this to me. I have rights." 

"You'll find, 298, that you have none of those here." The man with the grey eyes responded. Then, turning to his associates, he added, "Ready the needle, we need to implant the GPS device again."

A huge machine was wheeled to her table side and Chloe tried bucking against the cool metal again. The needle was huge, easily a foot long and rapidly moving toward her shoulder. She sobbed as it pierced her skin. "Make it stop!"

"You could always, just shift," Lex added conversationally, stepping out from a corner of the room.

"You bastard."

"Not magnificent yet but assuredly working on it," He said, chuckling. "Chloe, it's nice to have you back."

"So much for a détente," She said between sobs.

"That's thing about détentes," Lex said, slinking to the side of her exam table. "They never last. The other thing about battles that you should have picked up by now is that I always win."

"Fuck you."

"Tsk, tsk. Where's the extensive vocabulary I've heard so much of over the years?"

"You know. I can't say being in excruciating pain does much for my conversational skills."

"Now that's a shame." He sighed and glanced down at his watch. "We had been running the experiment to see how much stimuli it took you to shift involuntarily, but if you'd like to do us the favor and go ahead and do it now, we'd appreciate it. Torture is fun but it does get boring ever so quickly."

"Gladly." She answered, feeling the familiar tingle spread across her torso and her limbs.

When she'd finished, Lex whistled. "Someone's been practicing. Impressive."

"Oh, you'll see impressive," she said, pulling against the restraints and surprised when they didn't give. "What the Hell?"

"The restraints have been reinforced with green meteor rock. It was assumed that if you were composed of a similar compound that we'd require the strength the refined meteor rock ore yields to restrain you." He smiled and it made her nauseous. "Looks like we were right."

"Let me go."

"I highly doubt that is going to happen." Then, turning to the head doctor, he said, "Bring out the specially reinforced scalpels. I'd like to have a new sample from her arm and maybe the neck this time."

"Lex," she said, struggling frantically against her bonds and frustrated by their strength. "Let me go or you'll be sorry. My friends are going to find me."

His smile widened and her stomach lurched again. "I'm counting on it." He leaned over and whispered into ear. "Call for your pet alien."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He stood up and shook his head. "Cut her, but start with the cheeks and work your way to the eyes. We haven't had a chance to test their unique composition yet." The doctors nodded and she closed her eyelids, screaming when the blade dug into her cheek. When it reached her lower eyelid, it stopped. "Scream for Clark, Chloe, or you'll be blind."

"Fuck you."

"Once upon a time." He said. "Do it."

The scalpel dug deeper into her eyelid and she could it begin to press into the crystals that compose the eye itself. Her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest but she wouldn't yell for him. She'd promised, and she was still his secret keeper. The pain was becoming unbearable and she could the crystal cracking when a loud bang erupted in the room. Mercifully, the scalpel was pulled away.

She opened her eyes and was relieved to see the doctors thrown to the floor and Bart and Clark standing in front of her. Clark was working on yanking off her restraints. Inhaling deeply, she relaxed and reveled in the sensation of being able to free move her rib cage.

"Clark."

"God, Chloe, what'd he do?" He asked, holding her close to him. The familiar warmth flooded her and the cut across her cheek suddenly felt much less painful.

"Hey, amigos, not that I don't approve of the tender moments and I'm still waiting for my hug, but what do you want me to do with Baldie over here?" Bart asked, standing next to Lex and frowning menacingly.

Chloe stifled a chuckle. It would have been menacing if Lex didn't have a good four inches on Bart. "I don't suppose the cavalry is coming with cops?"

"Arrow's got it covered." Bart said, nodding. "Can I hit him while we wait, though?"

"Be my guest." She said, crawling gently off her slab, still wincing from the pain in her cheek.

"Yes, please do take your best shot," Lex said smirking and pressing a button on his wrist watch. Instantly the room was flooded with two dozen Luthorcorp security guards.

"Yeah, that's real scary." Bart said, rolling his eyes.

"It should be," Lex said, reaching out for Bart Allen.

"Q-Ball, I'm flattered for the attention, really," Bart said, "But I don't think you've really factored in the strengths of the fastest man alive. I'm going to blur right out of here and so is Clark."

"Oh really?" Lex said and then Bart screamed and fell unconscious to the floor.

"Bart!"

Lex sighed. "He's not terribly bright is he?" The he held up his left hand, revealing a buzzer concealed inside of it. 'Massive electrical charge, not enough to kill him, but he won't be waking up any time soon." He nodded to his security. "Now."

Three of the officers surged forward, carrying a massive lead plated box between them.

"Clark," she said, turning to him. "It's time to go."

"Not without Bart."

'Don't you get it? They're going to…" She didn't even have time to finish saying "unleash Kryptonite" before he fell to the ground, writhing in pain, sickly green veins snaking their way across his skin.

"Well, Chloe, I can't say your superhero friends are all that impressive. Warrior Angel would have done better."

"You haven't dealt with me yet." She answered, running towards him. But as she neared him, something blurred out of the corner of her eyes and crashed into her. Next thing she knew, she was rolling on the floor with something the size of a pro-wrestler and which moved with Bart Allen speed. "What the Hell?"

"One of the first prototypes from the genetics lab in 33.1. He's not much to look at but he's exceptionally strong and fast. We've borrowed a little from Bart, but I don't think he'd mind."

Chloe threw the thing off of her and grimaced in disgust when she got a full look at it. It was covered in sea urchin spines and glared at her with gleaming yellow eyes. It still was mostly covered in pale peach skin and she felt a stab of sympathy for it. It must have been human once upon a time.

Like her.

"Okay," She said, holding up her hands. "We can just reason this out like adults." The thing lunged into her again and it felt worse than slamming into the bottom of the gorge. She rolled to her feet and shook her head. "Or not."

"This should be fun." Lex commented, watching the two of them circle each other. "You don't mind if I multitask, do you, Chloe? I figured you'd understand and appreciate someone else as compulsorily organized as you."

"A little busy here," She mumbled slamming full force into the thing and grimacing when one of the spines pierced her. Kryptonite-based spines. How fun.

He nodded. "I didn't think so. Bring it."

Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe watched as one of the security personnel pulled out a large needle, easily as long as the one they'd been intending to use to implant her new GPS device. It was filled with a brightly glowing, noxious green liquid. The closer it got to Clark the more he moaned and the faster his veins throbbed.

Lex smiled politely and took the needle from his assistant. "I was able to get the notes from those medical student friends of Lana's and I have to say I think I've improved on their serum. It's a hundred times as potent now."

Chloe ducked the oncoming punch of the thing in front of her. It was fast, but she still managed to miss being struck. From her bent in half position, she reached up and punched him in stomach. The thing screamed and stumbled backwards into the wall. Mortar fell everywhere.

"Lex, if you use that on Clark, it might kill him."

"I'm hoping it will. We don't need it alive to learn everything we want to and dead is so much safer. I don't intend to have any escapes from my secure facility, but Clark has a way of weaseling out of every situation."

"Don't." She yelled surging forward as the needle pierced Clark's skin. Just then the thing rammed into her again. She spun, deflecting the force of its blow, then reached up and snapped its neck. Tossing it aside, she ran to where Clark lay and threw Lex off of him.

The needle was already lying empty at his side.

"Oh God," she said, reaching for his neck, desperately trying to feel out a pulse. "Come on, Clark. You're supposed to be invulnerable you big dumb alien. Come on." She sat there, shaking him, desperately trying to ignore the fact that her skin no longer felt warm and tingly against hers.

Lex rose smoothly to his feet and began to dust of his pants. "I think that was successful. Nice try, though, Chloe."

She kept shaking his shoulders. "Clark, please, it's me." He remained still, his skin growing colder and colder in her grasp, his veins engorged and green, popping against his skin. Finally, she lay him down on the floor. She glared up at Lex. "You killed him."

"I did."

She was on him in a second, her hand wrapped around his throat and his back pressed against the remains of the lab wall. "You didn't have to do that."

"It might have been a bit extreme." Lex choked out, his composure never wavering. "But I couldn't suffer it to live."

"It was Clark."

"Well now it's not."

Her hand tightened around his throat and the rest of his security surged forward. She turned to them. "Come any closer and I squeeze until his head pops off." She applied even more pressure to make her point.

Lex, his complexion turning blue, managed to bark out an order for them to back off. Then, he looked back at her. "You're not going to kill me. You're better than that."

"No, I'm not and you know it." She said, squeezing until she tore through gristle and bone.

Chloe sat up in bed and turned to her side, instinctively reaching out for Clark.

He wasn't there.

Oh God.

She hopped up quickly and turned on the lights. But he was nowhere in the room. Grabbing her robe, she ran downstairs and turned on all the lights there too, much to the frustration of Bart.

"Chloelicious, I don't do farm-living. It's not even daylight out yet. Go back to bed."

"Have you seen Clark?" She asked, shaking him more awake.

He blinked up at her, still clearly exhausted. "He woke me up half an hour ago and headed straight for the loft." He shook his head and rolled back onto his side, burying his face in the couch cushions. "I don't know which is weirder: that he can fly or that he spends all his time in a barn."

Chloe rolled her eyes and headed straight to the loft, letting out a sigh of relief when she found him sitting on the worn red sofa, turning the octagonal disk over in his fingers. "Clark?"

He jerked his head up, genuinely surprised. Now she knew something was wrong. Even if Clark was an early riser, three-thirty a.m. was still not primetime for him, and no one had snuck up him in years. "Hey Chlo."

She sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly to her. He squeezed back with such ferocity that she had to shift her bones to keep from being ground to dust. "Wow, someone's happy to see me."

"Looks like the feeling's mutual." He said, raising his head, but pulling hers to his shoulder and running his hand through her hair.

"I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours." She offered.

"Huh?"

"Nightmares." She clarified. "I was dreaming Lex caught me again. It…it didn't end well."

He squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"I know. So, what was yours?"

"Um, I was dreaming about Alicia." She could tell from his tone that he was holding something back, but she hadn't told him everything in Technicolor detail so she was willing to let it slide. Some things faded better once the sun rose anyway, even without the disclosure. Right now just knowing Clark would safe helped the nightmare fade, except she could still feel the bone crunch.

That was not so easily forgotten.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. You didn't know."

She sighed and looked up at him. "So why'd you get out the key? Were you heading over to the caves?"

He shook his head. "I was just thinking."

"Moping."

"Maybe."

"What about?"

"I'm not like the others, right?"

She knew him well enough that he didn't have to specify which others he was talking about. "No, you're not." She leaned up and kissed him. She'd worry about mixed signals some other night because now all she needed was to know that he was alive and to let him know in return that she wasn't going anywhere.

After a while, they pulled apart, and he went back to stroking her hair. "Good," he added, his voice shaking. "Because I don't want to be a murderer."

Me neither, she said to herself. Then aloud, she responded, "You aren't. I'm sure of it."

She just wished she had has much faith in herself as she did in him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Shotgun**

**Part 1: The Bridesmaid**

"Say cheese!" Jimmy said, the flash from his camera blinding Chloe momentarily.

"Jimmy!" Chloe said, barely refraining from spilling her champagne on herself. "What are you doing here?"

He dropped his camera back down to his neck, letting the support strap pull taught against it. "Well obviously you didn't hear, what with being out of the Planet for the last week with no notice." She ignored the less than subtle dig and waited for him to complete his explanation. "His Baldness called up this morning and offered the Planet a special exclusive deal. They'd be the only news source in the free world to officially cover the event. The catch was that I had to take the photographs and Perry White had to write the copy."

"Perry? As in Pit Bull? He's strictly Metro. He never covers the sycophantic side of Page Six. Why couldn't they get Cat Grant to cover it?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Who knows? Perry and the Luthors apparently have a history that dates back from before his Pulitzer winning coverage of Lionel's trial. Apparently, Perry was the only reporter ever to get a good usable quote out of Lex back at boarding school."

Chloe whistled. "So I see."

"He's not thrilled to be here, not by a long shot, but even Kahn couldn't resist an exclusive this big even for what's basically a puff piece."

"And she agreed to send the cub photographer out too? I mean, she won't let me do anything that doesn't involve the pigeon population and I've worked for the Planet a lot longer than you have."

He shuffled back and forth. "She wasn't thrilled with it. There are a dozen full-fledged photographers on staff, some with walls full of awards, but he was very specific. It had to be me or no deal."

Chloe spared a glance across the room to where Lex was exchanging what she assumed were very strained pleasantries with a man who bore an eerie resemblance to Morgan Edge. He smirked back at her. Bastard. "Well, that's great. This is going to be such a big break for you. The entire AP is going to be trying to buy these pics off the Planet," she said, smiling a little too broadly.

Jimmy didn't smile back at her. "Lex only asked for me because he doesn't like me very much and because he knew you'd be here."

Jimmy was a little more perceptive than she'd given him credit for. She was really hoping that he hadn't figured out that this little stunt was just another way for Lex to hone his public humiliation skills. "Still, this is much better than getting thrown out of the mansion and, hey, no defenestration either."

"That's a plus." He drolled. "Chloe, what gives?"

"Huh?"

"I've been calling you five times a day for a week. I've emailed every address you have and I've practically camped out on Bernstein's desk trying to figure out where you are and how you were doing. All I know is that last week you don't show up for our date and C.K. freaks out when I call him looking for you. I'd still be worried about your disappearing act if he, at least, hadn't been polite enough to call and tell me you were still okay."

She bit her lower lip. "Jimmy, look, it's nothing personal. It's just that a lot has happened in the last week, and I've been busy."

"So busy that you couldn't call on the phone for five minutes? I was scared to death, and considering what you'd seen Lex do to Daniel Kim, could you blame me? I had all these visions of you getting abducted and tied to a chair or sent to the bottom of Metropolis Harbor or something."

She snorted. "He's not in the Mafia, Jimmy."

"He's worse than that. Legitimate businessmen are so amateurs compared to him. I know it has to be something huge. Besides C.K.'s panic attack, I also know that it was Perry who had to negotiate your time off from work. What the Hell? You wouldn't take off work from the Planet if you had polio."

"Jimmy, can we not do this here? Don't you have pictures to take?"

"I've been taking pictures for seven hours. I have eight hundred photos of Iris arrangements or at least it feels that way. I think I can spare a few minutes to find out why my girlfriend won't even talk to me and why she's been on another guy's arm all damn night."

Chloe finched. Except for the actual nuptials, Clark had hovered around her all evening. She'd finally been able to convince him about ten minutes ago to let her have a breather. With the press right there and the rich and powerful of international business in attendance, Lex surely wasn't going to abduct her. It would so blow that whole low profile thing he'd been cultivating for 33.1. Still, considering the fact that Jimmy believed they were still dating, it must have been a shock for him to see Clark practically sitting on her lap.

"Jimmy, I…it's complicated."

"Are you sleeping with him?"

"God no. What kind of person do you think I am?" Okay, so technically she had been kissing Clark on a semi-regular basis and sleeping next to him in the same bed for almost a week, but she wasn't i sleeping /i with him.

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration. His voice had risen and Nell shot them both a dirty look from the main banquet table.

"Shh, don't make a scene or else Perry will have to put it in the article."

"Sorry." He said, his cheeks growing as red as his freckles. "I wasn't trying to embarrass you."

"Which I'm sure was Lex's goal."

He frowned. "And what does it say about our relationship when the resident evil billionaire knows more about you than I do."

Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Lex knew a hell of a lot more about her than she even did. Twelve hours of Mr. Wizard inspired fun probably meant that he knew tons about her meteor power and how it operated. "It's not like I wanted him to know so much about me, and Lex's involvement with me does go way beyond my Maid of Honor duties."

"And you couldn't tell me any of this? You do something to seriously piss Luthor, Jr. off. Don't tell me you didn't. And now you and C.K. can't keep your hands off of each other? Do you even care about me?"

"I do."

He gave a bitter laugh but quieted himself instantly when Nell shot them another look. "Not enough to tell me anything or even to let me know when you're dumping me."

She sighed. "I already said that---"

"It's complicated. Yeah, I heard that. What does that even mean? You're a writer, Chloe, you can be a lot more specific than that."

"It means that despite this cute little armistice Lex and I hashed out for evening for Lana's sake that he is threatening me and that as soon as the wedding ends, he'll be coming for me."

"But that's what I'm here for. I'm supposed to help keep you safe. It's my boyfriend duty." His voice softened as he said it, and Chloe struggled to maintain her resolve.

Putting a gentle hand on his arm, she said, "Anyone who goes up against a Luthor gets hurt. You end up with no job and on the run with assassins after you and that is the i best /i case scenario. Most people who try and take them end up dead, lobotomized, or locked away, and I'm not even talking about prison. Lex hurts people. It's what he does, and I am not letting him get to you."

"And isn't that my decision to make?"

"You went after that Egyptian story and Lex got you fired and you barely got a job back at the bottom of the basement. This time, you try and get at him and he'll just kill you."

Jimmy's shoulders sagged as the anger was slowly drained from him. Slowly, he reached out and stroked her hair. "What did he do to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it, not ever, but it was bad."

He nodded. Taking in a deep breath, he looked across the room to where Clark was making polite (and assuredly awkward) conversation with Lana. "But it's okay that Clark's in on this? You don't mind him getting hurt?"

"Clark was Lex's best friend for four years---assuming that Lex was ever capable of having a real friendship---and he's been working against Lex ever since he tried to have Clark's family killed."

"Jesus."

"I told you. It's fucked up, and it's a lot more than just getting a few photos of some hieroglyphics. Working against Lex is dangerous, and it's going to get worse before we win, if we can even do that. We've both been wrapped up in this for years and I'm not going to drag you into it too. Not when your life hasn't already been ruined."

"Ruined?" He asked, letting his palm come to rest on the side of her cheek. "God, what did he do?"

"Enough in one night to give me nightmares until I die." She added, blinking back the unwelcome watering in her eyes. "Jimmy, you're a nice, decent, normal guy and you aren't ready to go into a war like this and I'm not dragging you into it."

"What if I want to be in it?"

She shook her head and stepped back from him a few feet. "It's not an option. Go on, take some more pictures and knock the AP on its ass. You're going to do great. If…when I get back to work, we'll go out for Starbucks or something. I don't want to stop being friends."

He nodded and swallowed hard. "Is this all about Lex? Or is this still just a convenient excuse to finally get with C.K.?"

It hurt that he'd asked the question so bluntly, but she wasn't surprised. He'd always been threatened by her relationship with Clark after all, and she'd never been able to explain that all their inside secrets and sacred trusts were extraterrestrial and not romantic in nature, not exactly. "He asked me to be his girlfriend, his valentine, actually. Gave me this horribly mauled box of chocolates and everything."

"Nice to see he's not fickle." He sniffed.

"I said no, Jimmy. Beyond me and Lex and this stupid cat-and-mouse game I've always had going against the Luthors, beyond how Clark feels about me---and I'm still not sure he'll ever be able to see past Lana." She added, gesturing with her head to where they were still talking. "My life's changed and I don't know what it means. I hope I'll still be me when this is all over, and that I'll still just be Chloe Sullivan, Ace Reporter, but I'm not sure."

"I don't understand."

"And I don't want you to. Smallville's a weird town with more intrigue than a John Clancy novel. Just let it go." She said, leaning forward and giving him a chaste peck on the cheek. "I love you enough that I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you because of me." With that, she turned around and started walking toward the other edge of the mansion's ballroom, ignoring Jimmy's calls for her to come back.

Eventually, the sound of a flash going off let her know that Jimmy was letting it drop for now. She doubted that he wouldn't trail after her like a puppy once she started back at the Planet, but for right now he'd give her some peace and that was enough. She hunched over the refreshment table and considered grabbing a refill of champagne. Being buzzed in this shark pit was just inviting trouble, but at the same time, she didn't really care. She hadn't slept in a week and last night she hadn't even gone back to her own bed after her nightmares.

Everything was just too much.

"Enjoying the evening?" A familiar voice chimed out, grating against her last nerve.

"Lex." She said, turning around. "What do you want?"

He held his hand and gestured with his head to the dance floor. "I can't have a short spin with the Maid of Honor? Now that just seems rude."

"Well, since dancing means that I'd have to touch you for a prolonged period of time, I'm thinking that's out."

He frowned. "You could at least spare me a few minutes. Clark, after all, seems preoccupied with Lana, which if I'm not mistaken is the story of your entire relationship."

"And you're not threatened by the two of them cuddling up either?"

"I trust my wife. She knows where her loyalties lie."

"To the man with the largest checkbook. How cute."

"Cutting, Chloe, but you can do a little bit better than that. Even that rag The Inquisitor hit on the gold digger angle long ago."

She quirked her head at him. "It's not fair anyway. Lana isn't in it for the money. Despite logic and her usually decent self-preservation instinct, she trusts you."

"So did you, once upon a time."

"I learned my lesson." She said, letting her hand stray over the concealed scars on her stomach.

"Touché." Lex said, his hand still proffered. "I'm sure it didn't hurt all that much."

"You be on the table and tell me differently."

"Oh, I have been. We're all chipped, no need to be so melodramatic and what?" He asked staring at her left shoulder. "Did you burn it out?"

"I got it out. That's enough for me. I don't want you going all Big Brother on me."

"I see." He said, stepping closer toward her. He was leaning forward and she caught sight of the pale expanse of his neck. Her dream rushed back to her and she could still feel the crunch of bone and the tearing of flesh. She looked away. He tsked. "I never expected the great Chloe Sullivan to back away from anything."

"I don't."

"Then," he said, wrapping his left arm around her elbow. "Just one dance. You know I won't try anything in front of five hundred witnesses, and, even if I did, I resent the implications you've been making about 33.1."

She snorted but let him lead her out to the floor. "Sorry, I guess yours must be the five star version of a genetics lab with illicit human experimentation."

"I'm not as evil as you want me to be."

"Self-delusion was always more of Lana's specialty." She gave a mirthless laugh. "Maybe it was always mine too. I used to think that if I gave certain people enough time, they'd be who I needed them to be."

"Clark, you mean."

"Maybe," She said, casting a mournful glance over at Clark and Lana, as oblivious to everyone around them as they ever were. "But maybe I meant you."

"Me? You had faith in my benevolent nature. I thought you'd always been the hardened cynic." 

She shrugged. "We're all young and impressionable once. Once upon a time I believed in your father's promises when I should have known better, and for one brief summer I believed you had a soul."

He leaned lower and whispered in her ear. "It felt longer than just one summer."

His breath rippling down her neck made her shiver and she fought fiercely to suppress old emotions from fighting their way to the surface. "It was just the one summer, a few weeks really. Don't make any more of it than it was."

He nodded and lifted his head back to stare into her eyes. "I love Lana."

"I know you think you do. Whatever twisted version of love you can give her and the baby, I'm sure you're providing."

"You just assume it's twisted."

"With you, it's always twisted."

"You sought me out first, Chloe, what does that say about you?"

"Nothing." She spat, and still the images of her nightmare played through her mind. It would be so easy to get rid of him on her own terms. Luthor security was a joke. One quick hop over the mansion fence…Hell, today, right now. She could save the world and, especially Smallville, so much misery. Her hands tensed against his back and his eyes narrowed.

"That might leave a bruise."

She pulled out from around his waist and focused on shifting it back to normal. She hadn't meant to do that, not really. "On anyone else, surely."

He glanced back at Clark and shook his head. "You're colder than he is, leaner and hungrier, too. If you had a fraction of his power…well, you would be quite the threat wouldn't you, Chloe?"

"Paranoia finally getting to you, Lex?"

He snorted. "And I suppose you still want to pretend that you broke yourself out of 33.1 and fried all the cameras while you were at it. Contrary to popular belief, I am not stupid, and Clark's a terrible liar."

She forced a laugh. "You haven't seen everything I can do, Lex, and you know I have friends who've made it their personal mission in life to rip 33.1---all of it---to shreds. Sometimes, it isn't just about Clark."

He leaned close again and she held her ground, not willing to let him see how deeply he affected her. "Don't kid yourself. It's always about him. Since the day you meet him, it's always about him."

She didn't answer him directly. "Is that what Lana's really about, then? She's what he can't have, and you stole her right out from under him."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "I thought that worked out well in your favor."

"We aren't dating."

"Why ever not? Lana's firmly off the market now and the second fiddle position is open for your solo. Besides, it's not like he hasn't gone so far as to marry a meteor freak before."

"Maybe after I ruin your life, I'll be ready for dating." She riposted, narrowing her eyes at him and struggling to ignore the allusion to Alicia. "Still, you've been playing Lana from the beginning, not with the ship. That was real enough and she knew more about Fine than you ever should have let her know."

"I notice that you know quite a bit about Fine and Zod yourself. Are they in the Planet's databases now?"

"A girl's got her resources."

"I'll bet," He said, glancing pointedly at Clark. This time her heart skipped a beat. Lex was insinuating a lot tonight. Granted, he always was full of veiled threats and paranoid suspicions, but tonight it felt different. It felt like he knew.

Desperate to pull him off his train of thought, she said. "I know about Simone."

"Know what?"

"She asked Clark to kill you out of the blue? Fat chance. She got picked up in Reno for petty theft two weeks before she showed up in Smallville and it was a LuthorCorp lawyer who posted her bail. Not one on your regular payroll, I'll give you that much credit for discretion, but it was one you tend to use for your less orthodox needs." She shook her head and continued. "She didn't even meet Lana that night, why in the Hell would she need Clark to call her and break up with her in person? You set that up."

"Insinuations abound there, Chloe. Looking to work yourself onto the writing staff of Page Six."

"You didn't deny it."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter what you've cooked up or not. Lana understands that mind whammies are a fact of life in this quiet little hamlet. He could have kept her if he'd tried a little harder, but I guess some girls are more willing to be lied to than others. More desperate to hold on."

"And some men don't leave anything to free will because they know they'll lose."

His gripped tightened on her wrist and she shifted her bones to relieve the pressure. "I never lose."

"Try me."

"Um, hey guys." Clark said, interrupting both of them. "Having fun?"

Chloe glared back at Lex and pulled away from him. Straightening the satin front of her dress, she turned to Clark. Lana was standing off to his side, her eyes never leaving him. That didn't quite surprise Chloe. Even as late as yesterday evening, Lana'd clearly been having second thoughts. What did surprise her, however, was the look in the other girl's eyes. She wasn't wistful.

She was nervous.

Not good either.

Chloe spared one more glance at Lana before smiling up at Clark. "Oh, you know how it is. Catching up on old times and reliving all the instances I've saved his sorry ass. You know, he has the most interesting stories about Simone."

Clark blushed and Lana snapped out of her funk long enough to frown at Lex. "Well that was kind of a long time ago, huh?"

"Funny how the little things come back to bite you in the ass, right, Lex?" Chloe asked.

He stepped forward and wrapped an arm possessively around Lana. "Don't mind her. Chloe's just overcome with joy to see all the competition removed."

Clark blushed even brighter, knowing that, red K or no, he'd been the first person to suggest that Chloe'd been biding her time until Lana was finally lost to him. "That wasn't very nice."

"Is he ever?" Chloe asked, moving closer to Clark and relaxing once he put an arm over her shoulder. Their stance mirroring Lana and Lex's.

"I'm hurt, Chloe, after you'd been so helpful in offering me the second stringer tips." He smiled a cruel little smile at her and if Clark hadn't had his arm wrapped so tightly around her shoulder, she'd have slugged him.

Someone, however, answered for her. "Hey, Cue Ball, long time, no see. You aren't harassing Chloelicious now are you? Because that would be so not cool." Bart said, coming up to stand beside her. He'd actually consented to wear a tux for the event and where he'd found it, she had no idea, although she suspected everybody's favorite billionaire vigilante had something to do with it. As if on cue, both Victor and Ollie strolled up to stand beside Clark, rendering the tête-à-tête tilted in her favor.

"Lex," Ollie said, shaking the other man's hand. "It's great to see you again and I am so glad you finally managed to end up with a girl you don't have to inflate first." He turned and bowed low, bringing Lana's hand up for a kiss. "Mrs. Luthor, a pleasure as always."

"Pardon the lack of tact," Victor said, rolling his eyes. "Ollie here never actually paid attention in boarding school."

"You don't say?" Lex added. His tone was light, but a vein in his forehead was beginning to twitch and Chloe could tell the Bros were getting to him.

Lana, the consummate lady (at least Nell had done one thing right), smiled warmly up at Victor. "It's nice to see you again. How's Catherine?"

He shrugged. "She's okay, I guess. I mean, I haven't seen her in months, but I assume she's doing alright."

"Oh," Lana said, realization dawning in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Victor said, "It happens sometimes."

Lex smirked back at Chloe. "Well, you know how it is when normal people and more unusual individuals try to make a go of it." His eyes flashed briefly between Clark and Lana, and Chloe felt that now-familiar sense of dread creeping into her stomach.

"So, that whole prematurely bald thing was the reason you couldn't get laid." Oliver said, chuckling. "I thought it was all because of your sparkling wit and winning personality." Bart sniggered, while she, Clark, and Victor struggled to remain composed.

"Funny," Lex said, his teeth firmly clinched. "I don't remember inviting you, Queen."

"Oh, you father's been very all-inclusive. He didn't think that LuthorCorp would want to spite any of the rich and possibly vengeful. The Wayne trustee received an invitation as well. Earle, too, or so I hear."

Lex frowned. "Well, I'm so glad that my father thought to cover so many bases." Then he glanced down at Bart. "I definitely don't remember putting confirmed thieves on my guest list."

Bart held up his hands. "Sticky fingers free these days, besides, you can't steal what doesn't exist, right? Oh, and I am so invited. I'm Chloelicious's, um, I mean Chloe's date."

"Really?"

"Well, Clark already had an invite for a plus one and so did Chloe. I knew she wouldn't mind if I slipped on in. I heard there was cake. Oh, and I couldn't wait to get a peak at the groom. I was hoping that ponytail you wanted finally grew in." He gestured to his bald head. "Guess that didn't happen. Bummer."

"Clever, Mr. Allen, really clever."

"I try."

"So," he said, glancing at Clark. "Does that make Mr. Stone your date?"

"Hardly." Victor said. "Ollie wanted to drag me along, just a little extra security. I seem to be good for that. Thanks by the way."

"I don't know what you're implying."

"Sure you don't."

"Um, look," Lana said, clearly uncomfortable with all the insults and innuendo, "They want me to throw the bouquet in a few minutes, and I'd like to talk to my husband in private before then. Chloe, I'll see you in a little bit. Boys, it was nice to see you all again." Her gracious smile was impressive. If Chloe didn't know her better, she'd have sworn Lana was being genuine. Maybe the other girl really was cut out for society wife duties.

Once the others were gone, Chloe untangled herself from Clark and gave both Ollie and Victor a big hug. "Guys, what are you doing here?"

Ollie laughed and gave her an extra squeeze. "We finished up with Cairo earlier than expected and we couldn't wait to get a load of you sidekick."

"Bart, begged us to accompany him so he could get the extra cake slices and a glimpse of quote 'Chloelicious all babed out.'" Victor added.

She laughed and gave Bart a quick peck on the cheek. It wasn't exactly a swoon worthy compliment, but she had to give the kid credit for trying. "It's good to see you all. Where's A.C.?"

"We came to the farm first to look for you, and he and Lois got to talking."

"Yelling's more like it," Victor added. "Fearless leader over here pawned her off on him and is still waiting his turn for some Sullivan-Lane girl wrath."

Bart shook his head. "I feel bad for you both. Lois is scary."

"Hey!" Chloe defended. "That's my cousin you're talking about."

Clark shrugged. "What can I say? She i is /i scary. Even I'm terrified of her."

Victor let out a low whistle. "And he drinks a lot of milk." He leaned over and patted Ollie on the shoulder. "She's going to fillet you, man."

"And that's what I get for standing up for truth, justice, and the American way."

Chloe arched an eyebrow at him. "'American Way?' Isn't that a little jingoistic. Come on."

"Well," Clark mused. "It does have a nice ring to it."

"Dudes," Bart said, glancing at the refreshment table. "You know what has a better ring to it? 'Cake.' Come on, I think between the two of us, Stretch, we can finish that mother."

"Carrot," Chloe reminded him. 

"Damn." Victor said, shaking his head. "That's a tragedy."

"But," Chloe added, linking an arm through Clark's crooked elbow and another through Bart's. "I did talk Mrs. Kent into baking some of her brownies for today."

"Chloe?" Bart asked, his eyes brimming with excitement. "Will you marry me?"

She laughed and ushered them into the hallway toward the kitchen where the brownie stash was hidden, almost positive that she'd just imagined Clark's mumbled "Get in line" echoing down the hall.

**Part Two: The Former Best Man**

"Mr. White?" Clark asked, walking up to the older man.

Perry gave a curt nod of recognition to Clark, but kept talking to the tall, silver-haired man in front of him. "Look, Pennyworth, I get that I'm here for the god damned society page and that Gotham isn't my usual beat, but you're here and I have to ask."

The older man gave Perry a sly smile. "Master Bruce has been gone for almost four years, Mr. White. I don't know why you think that I'd know where he is, when the entire free world has been looking for him with no success."

"The entire free world isn't his legal guardian."

"Was, Mr. White. I think you'll find that Bruce was quite full grown when he left."

Perry nodded and chewed slightly on the end of his pen. "Alright, I know better than to try and smuggle information out of MI-6."

"You flatter me."

"Do I?" Perry asked, shaking his head. "Though, Pennyworth, answer me this. The rumors in the business world have been running rampant. Mr. Earle is thinking of declaring Wayne legally dead and assuming full control of the board isn't he?"

"I think he has almost four years to go before he can get that accomplished all above board."

"But he wants to."

Alfred frowned as if he'd bitten straight through a lemon. "Mr. Earle has been looking to undermine the company since before Master Bruce's father was murdered. I promise you, it will be a cold day in Hell before I let him take it."

Perry scribbled the last sentence down furiously. "You don't mind if I quote you on that. I'd love to get something usable out of this farce of a day."

The older man nodded. "Oh please, go ahead. The Gazette has almost forgotten there was ever a Wayne family in Gotham. I'd appreciate the good press for Master Bruce when he returns."

"So you do know where he is?"

The other man gave a tight smile before melting back into the crowd. "Good evening, Mr. White."

Perry chuckled and shook his head. "Sneaky old bastard." He turned around and offered a hand to Clark. "Clark, it's good to see you. I must say that after Linda's 'article,'" Clark could practically hear the air quotes in that statement, "You'd be the last person on the guest list." He smirked at him. "Or are you the lovely lay editor's plus one?"

"Nope, Lex actually invited me. He has this passion for rubbing people's noses in it."

"Clichés, Clark. I thought Miss Sullivan had taught you better than that."

"Sorry. I have to say, though, that I'm surprised you're here too. This is a little far from the insidious murder plot and fraud beat."

"Special request. Lex personally invited me and a cub photographer here as well. Jimmy Olsen, you know him, right?"

"What makes you say that?" Clark asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Clark, you really are going to have to lie better if you insist on doing it so often." Perry added, chuckling. "Jimmy Olsen has become a fixture at my desk as of late. He seems to have a little investigative potential of his own. He figured out that I made the call to Bernstein on Miss Sullivan's behalf. I think he's been a bit left out of the loop."

Clark sighed and ran a hand through his still unruly curls. His mom had threatened him with gel this morning, but he'd refused. "Okay, maybe we might have, um, forgotten to let Jimmy know Chloe wouldn't be coming to work for a while."

"I think he knows."

"Tell me about it."

Perry nodded and leaned in closer to Clark, his voice dropping to more discretionary levels. He also noticed that the older man had stowed away his notepad. Clark had been around the Planet and Chloe long enough to know what a concession that was. A real reporter would rather have his hand cut off then stop trying to ferret out a good story. "How is she, by the way?"

"Better. She's still sick, but I think she'll be ready for work soon."

He bit his lower lip, considering this new tidbit of information. "You know that I own Bernstein. He was a very bad boy at his bachelor party. If she needs more time, I can bargain him out of a couple of more weeks even."

"I didn't say that she needed more time."

Perry glanced across the expanse of the ballroom to where Chloe was leaning against the wall. She looked tired, as if she hadn't slept in months and not just a week. "She does so. What the Hell have you two gotten into now?"

"Mr. White, you know I can't get into that."

"This is off the record."

Clark arched an eyebrow. "When is anything off the record with you?"

"I've learned my lesson. I don't work on taking down the innocent anymore. There are far too many sources of corruption in Metropolis to keep me busy."

"So I can see. You seemed to be harassing old and British quite nicely."

"Alfred Pennyworth. You seem to know quite a few billionaires on a first name basis by now, Clark. You've never heard of the Waynes?"

"I've been busy just keeping an eye on Lex."

He nodded. "Alfred's the butler and trustee of the estate until Bruce resurfaces, and he will. Personally, I have nothing against that family. They're as honest as the Luthors are crooked or, more accurately, were. I, however, really don't look forward to watching Mr. Earle seize control of the company. It's bad enough that Metropolis has its own power hungry CEO strangling it alive. I'd hate for Gotham to get any worse, if that's even possible. Nice deflection, by the way. We were still talking about our fine Lady Editor."

"Chloe really doesn't need me talking about all the things going wrong in her life right now."

"I'm not holding it against her. Things have a way of going spectacularly wrong in Smallville, and they've been getting worse in the last two and a half years, much worse since Dark Thursday."

Clark blinked. "What do you know?"

"What don't you?" Perry riposted. "I never stopped being interested in your home town, Clark. While I don't do the X Styles beat anymore, I am still intrigued by all the little urban legends that surface over there. Our Miss Sullivan is right. Most of what comes up there is true, strange things impossible to disprove or to accrue to mass hysteria."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Well if you're going to invite me. The number of missing persons' reports has increased five hundred percent since October 3, 2004."

"The date that Lex assumed control of the company."

Perry nodded. "Then there are patients from Belle Reve who keep getting transferred to mystery locales. You dig hard enough and you find that the doctors now in charge of their care have been tangentially connected to LuthorCorp satellite corporations in the past. It's nothing that would hold up in court or would even be publishable without raising liable law suits, but the trails are there. He's collecting some of Smallville's more 'special' citizens, isn't he?"

Clark let out a low whistle. He thought he'd met the Pit Bull before, but he'd been wrong. When Perry was sober, he was able to dig deep and make connections that no one else could see. He knew there was a story here, he just couldn't prove it. "I can't prove it, but, yeah, big time."

Perry narrowed his eyes at Clark as if he wanted to ask the question that had gone unasked between them since the day he'd put the man on the Greyhound back to Metropolis. The Delirium Tremens and a few inopportune solar flares were the only things that had kept Clark from having an X Styles expose of his very own. He had a sinking feeling that Perry still suspected something but, as always, there was that pesky burden of proof stopping the older man. "I see, and our Miss Sullivan has come up on a bigger paper trail than I have."

"She may have. I mean, hypothetically at least since all this medical experimentation might not actually be happening." He looked across the hall to where Chloe had struck up a conversation with Jimmy Olsen. Judging by the way Chloe couldn't quite meet his eyes, Clark guessed the conversation wasn't going well.

Perry's glance lingered over the bandage covering the burn mark on her shoulder and he frowned. "Are you sure that's all there is to it this time, Clark?"

"You know how tight lipped I am, Mr. White. You know way more than I thought you would, probably more than is safe to know."

"Multiple copies of the evidence trail left with multiple lawyers with 'on the event of my death' instructions. I've learned before how to keep a Luthor at bay." He sighed. "If you two need anything, let me know."

"Still off the record?"

"For you two, I guarantee it." He gave Clark a quick handshake. "Do you think I can interest your mother in a quickie interview about her education reform efforts and the rumors of her national campaign?"

Clark glanced over to the main table where Lionel was leaning over his mother and whispering something into her ear, making her laugh. "Please distract her. I couldn't survive if Lionel Luthor became my new stepfather."

Perry chuckled. "I'll see what I can do." He shook his head. "An interview with the Wayne trustee and Kansas's newest state senator. This almost makes up for being stuck on such a fluff ball assignment." He gave Clark a mock salute. "TTFN."

Clark laughed and shook his head. "The Pit Bull" was still one of the weirdest guys he knew, Justice Bros included.

He sighed and looked across the hall to where Chloe and Jimmy were still talking. The other guy looked like Chloe had just told him that digital photos and Polaroids were superior to manually focused professional cameras. It was all too complicated and it all made him more and more uneasy. Perry knew way more than he should, and Jimmy looked like he was tempted to take up Chloe-stalking (not that he was one to throw stones exactly), but it wouldn't be safe for Jimmy to hang around Smallville for a few days trying to make her see reason. Hell, Clark didn't want to stay in Smallville for the next few days either.

Shaking his head and trying to collect his thoughts, he spied the beautiful lace veil adorning Lana's head. He hadn't had much time to talk to her at the reception. He had been seated at the main table, considering that he was the Maid of Honor's date, but Nell had managed to control it so he'd been on the far end from Lana with twenty people between them.

He hadn't been over eager to extend his congratulations to her. He wasn't bitter about the wedding, not like he'd been feeling during the engagement party or even when Lex had first offered him the invitation in the barn. But so much had happened since then. He'd almost lost Chloe, still might lose her, and she was the only thing he could think about right now. Still, it hurt to know what Lana had agreed to, to know that being married to Lex was probably going to ruin her and that this time she couldn't be saved.

Didn't want to be saved.

Sighing once again, he made his way across the hall. After all their history, he at least owed it to her to try and be polite. It was the least he could do, although the best thing he could do would be to drag her the Hell away from here. Even if she didn't want to be saved and Chloe had her own Clint Eastwood impression going, he had to get both girls away from Lex.

He had to save the day.

It was what he did.

**Part Three: The Bride**

Lana was standing by the refreshment table, a glass of sparkling cider clutched tightly in her hands. Lex had left her alone for a while. There were over five hundred guests in attendance and the only five people she knew beside Lex were Lionel, Mrs. Kent, her aunt, and Chloe and Clark. The ballroom crowded with strangers just served to remind her how much this wasn't her world. Just then, Lena fluttered against the hand she'd lain over her stomach.

She smiled to herself, remembering that there were technically six people here she knew. Lana'd make herself fit. She could be every bit the Luthor she needed to be. She'd proven herself more than once with the machinations she'd made on Lex's behalf and with the saccharine sweet smiles she'd plastered on her face during the endless fundraisers.

She brought her cider to her lips and took another deep swig. When she lowered it again, she had to struggle to suppress her shudder. Clark was standing right beside her. She knew how fast he could be, how he must be able to blur in an instant like the others from the Black Ship and like Zod, and for an irrational moment, she assumed that he'd just popped up in front of her.

Logic reasserted itself in her brain as she shook her head. Clark had obviously just wandered over to her while she'd been preoccupied. "Um, hey, Clark."

He leaned a little closer toward before he spoke and she backed up immediately, burying her back into the table, a little yelp escaping from her at the pain of the collision. Concerned, he reached out toward her and she flinched again. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and struggled to keep her voice level when she spoke. "Yeah, it's just been a long day and I'm a little jumpy. I didn't get much sleep last night."

He smiled and his eyes were as bright and green as ever. Still, Lana could help but remembering the way they'd burned in her dream. She gripped her stomach tighter. He frowned but still continued on as cheerily as he could. "Wedding day jitters, huh?"

"You could say that. I had this dream where everything went wrong at the ceremony. Then other things happened too."

"Wrong color paper for the wedding invites?" He asked, striving to keep the mood light.

"Something like that." She said, running her hand over the slight swell of her abdomen. "I dreamed something happened to the baby."

His frowned deepened as he squinted at her and for an instant, she had the feeling that he was seeing right through her, able even to glimpse the baby itself. Knowing Clark, he probably could. Lex had once mentioned something about the others knowing that he had the key in his hands even though he'd been holding it an angle where they shouldn't have been able to see it.

"Everything's fine…I mean, I'm sure the baby's perfectly healthy. Good thing about all of this is that at least Lex can afford the best prenatal care."

Prenatal care really didn't mean much if the baby got flash-fried before she was even born. Not that Clark would ever do that, or at least she hoped he wouldn't. Zod might be gone, but those things from the ship had merely vanished as had Fine. It was possible they were still hiding somewhere. It made as much sense that Clark was working with them as it did that he wasn't. It's not like he'd ever been forthcoming with her before.

About anything.

She nodded stiffly. "Yeah, he's been really great with the baby and all the doctors have promised that she's doing just fine." Lana still wasn't sure what fine entailed for a fledgling meteor mutant (on Lex's side. She still refused to believe that she was defective in any way). Idly, she wondered how long it would take for her daughter to manifest her abilities. There was something reassuring about having a child that was very likely to be resilient to illness and injury.

Huh. Imagine that. She and Martha Kent would have something in common in that respect. Of course, Lena wouldn't be injured by meteor rock exposure, which was so pitifully common in Smallville. Hell, every corny roadside tourist stand had a meteor rock sculpture or nine. The Kents really should have moved years ago.

Clark smiled warmly at her. "So you know the sex already? That's nice."

Lana nodded and continued stroking her stomach. "Yeah, it's a little girl. We were trying to think up a suitable 'L' name for her. It was pretty fierce between Lillian and Laura for a while, but we sort of settled on a compromise."

"Do I get a hint?"

She shook her head. "You already know the big secret don't you?"

He laughed and again she had that vertigo feeling of trying to remember that everything she knew about him was just an act, had always been an act. It was so easy to hear his kind laugh and fall back into simpler moments stolen away in pastures and loft couches. So hard to remember how dangerous he could be.

The bruise that Lex, even with his "talents," had sported for a week after Clark had driven him through a wall proved it was dangerous, nearly fatal even, to underestimate Clark.

"I'm sure you've picked out something nice, probably something alliterative even."

She offered him a ghost of a smile. "You're one to talk Clark Kent."

He laughed again and looked away at the dance floor, frowning when he realized that Chloe and Lex were staring at them both. "Huh?"

"What?"

"I thought that she'd want to keep as far away from him as possible. Even hanging out with Jimmy has to be a better way to spend her time." He started walking over to them, but Lana put a hand on his shoulder. Not that she had a hope of restraining him, but he was usually polite enough to let people push him around. Full scale alien invasion of her wedding she'd be more prepared to deal with than watching Clark and Lex make a scene arguing over her and Chloe.

The Planet was here. She was so not having a lover triangle quarrel or Clark and Chloe's personal vendetta against Lex being smeared all over the society page in the morning.

"Don't. If she's not running for the hills on her own, then she can handle him for the time being."

"He's been baiting her all night." Clark growled and Lana was sure that she hadn't imagined the flare of red in his eyes.

Lana sighed. That much was true. At the ceremony, the priest had reached the infamous line of "speak now or forever hold your peace," and Lex had stared at Chloe, practically begging her to say something. She'd been amazed that Chloe had managed to keep quiet, considering how full of objections she'd been just last night. She had to give the other girl credit for respecting her choices. Arguing against them sure, but Chloe still was willing to let her marry the man she loved.

Was pretty sure she loved, at any rate.

"I don't understand what you and Chloe have against him."

He snorted. "I was trying not to bring any of this up today, since you obviously won't listen to reason, and since we'd both promised not to make a scene."

Lana arched an eyebrow at him. She'd never known Clark to be quite this level-headed when it came to her. It wasn't quite the relief she always thought it would be. Some part of her, deep down, had always sort of enjoyed the back-and-forth between him and Lex, that ridiculously primitive struggle to claim her. Maybe she wasn't quite the modern girl she always wished to be after all.

"What?" He asked.

"Thank you. I really appreciate how respectful you're being. When you and Chloe told me you'd been invited I was pretty upset."

"Really? Can't say I noticed." He quipped.

"Well, I did imagine another scene like at my engagement party. I really didn't want to be dragged out of the church." Or off to some secret alien headquarters either, she thought to herself.

Clark blushed and looked back down at the floor. "I am sorry about that. I don't know how to explain it exactly." Lana restrained the urge to utter a sarcastic "There's a surprise," and let him continue. "You were right. I was on something. Lois sort of slipped it to me without meaning to."

Lois. Huh? It had never occurred to her that Lois knew anything one way or the other. Chloe, most definitely knew. She'd been making excuses for Clark at least since freshmen year of college. She'd been the one discussing with him about killing Lex. Was it possible her cousin was in on the whole thing too? Of course, knowing Lois, it was even odds that she'd just blundered into whatever she'd done to Clark. "I'm sorry that happened. At least the ceremony went well."

"Yeah, it was very pretty and, um, purple, lots and lots of purple." He said, glancing to where Chloe and Lex were dancing. The other girl was digging her hand into the small of Lex's back and from the way he'd flinched, Lana bet it had hurt. In fact, she could just make out the preternatural sparkle of Chloe's hand as it shifted back.

So much for being discrete.

Clark coughed, "On second thought, they might just kill each other without our help. Want to break it up?"

"You promise not to threaten Lex or go all caveman on him."

"I'm not high!"

"Well, once was definitely more than enough to make an impression," she huffed.

He held out his hand to her, "Are you coming?' Automatically, she flinched back. Self-preservation instinct screaming loudly in her head for her never to let him lead her anywhere. He frowned. "Are you sure you're okay? Nothing happened with him, did it?"

"No, never with i him /i ." She said, striding in front of him.

She was sitting on the sofa in the salon next to the main ballroom. Meeting once again with Oliver Queen had been less than pleasant. Everyone gave Lex such a hard time for being Satan incarnate, but at least he had some manners. Oliver apparently hadn't developed anymore tact since Lex's costume ball. She, for one, did not find being compared to a blow up doll even remotely funny.

Lex stood behind her, combing his hands skillfully through her hair. She smiled. It always amazed her how someone who'd been bald most of their lives was so good at brushing out hair. Sometimes he played with it when they lay together in bed. Maybe Lillian had taught him how to comb hers out. She laughed a little to herself, imagining him playing with Lena's hair when she grew out more than peach fuzz.

If he'd been excited over the competition between Stegosaurus and Mr. Duck, then he'd be beside himself when it came time to choose the right shade of purple bow.

"Tough night?" He asked, his fingers raking gently through her locks and across the back of her neck.

"Not as much fun as I would have liked." She admitted. "I can't believe your father invited Oliver."

"Yes, well Oliver's allergy to tact really did make him perfect for Lois, didn't it?"

"Lois is not that bad." Lana defended. "A deep and abiding hatred for her might be the only thing you and Clark have in common."

He leaned down and kissed her forcefully before drawing back. "It's not all we have in common."

Lana sighed, still not enjoying the image of herself as a prize to be won, although it had always gone with the territory of being Homecoming Queen and head cheerleader, even if that had been more of a passing phase. However, thinking back at the way Lex had whispered into Chloe's ear and the way Clark had practically curled himself around her earlier that evening, Lana had a sinking suspicion that she wasn't the only woman that Lex and Clark had shared.

Even if Clark hadn't figured that out yet.

"It's all you can agree on." She countered, trying to Lex's attention away from the women in his life. Lois didn't count, exactly. She was more like an annoyance neither Lex nor Clark could rid themselves of.

"That may very well be true, but since I don't want Smallville to be ground zero for a scene straight out i War of the Worlds /i , I can't see how he and I would ever have anything in common again."

She sighed. "Anyone ever consider a virus?"

Lex smirked. "I never figured you for a Well(e)s fan, H.G. or Orson, for that matter."

"Well, Tom Cruise is cute and they make you read it in ninth grade. So incredibly boring."

"Yes, well Smallville has made up for the boring school reading with the actual front row seat to an invasion."

She paused and looked back up at him, leaning against his chest. "When?"

"When what?"

"When are you going to take him?"

"Well I can hardly do it in the middle of my own wedding party, can I? Even my lawyers aren't quite that good. You aren't going to beg me to put it off for a few weeks. All that sympathy from years gone by." He tried for that cool arrogance he'd affected so well in front of everyone else, but it fell flat with her. It bothered him that she'd loved Clark first, always would. Despite his bravado, her husband did not deal well with even the thought that he was her second choice.

She reached up and pulled him down for another kiss, snaking around with her other arm to drag his hand over her belly. "I don't love him. I couldn't, not knowing what I know now."

"So why do you care when?"

"I want it soon." She said, pressing his hand to her belly even tighter. "She's not safe until he is."

"Darwinian logic suits you well."

She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. "It's for her."

"Isn't it always?" he asked, stroking her back. "I can set it up for tomorrow, but, honestly, with an acquisition that big for 33.1, I'd want to be there in person. Chloe and Clark don't know anything. It can wait another week. Hell, it's better that way."

"How?"

"Let them sit and worry about her. The look on their faces when they realize I was never after her will be priceless."

Lana breathed a sigh or relief. "So you aren't taking her, too?"

"She insists on playing vigilante alongside Bart Allen and I strongly suspect Victor and Oliver, then I won't be responsible for detaining a trespasser on my property. She goes psychotic and I'll lock her away. But otherwise, no. I don't make it a habit of stealing away the harmless mutants." He paused and shook his head. "Unless they're otherwise interesting, of course."

Lana was so relieved to hear that Chloe wouldn't be taken, to have Lex reaffirm how 33.1 was all about protecting Smallville and their family, that she completely missed his final remark.

Taking Clark, however, and especially after last night no longer bothered her.

Lex gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Is that all for right now? I propose we go out there and finish the ceremony and then actually enjoy our honeymoon. I've always regretted that I didn't have time that summer to visit you in Paris."

"Well, I was busy with Jason at the time."

"Then this trip will certainly remedy that." He said, offering her his hand. "Ready to throw the bouquet?"

She took his hand without hesitation and followed him back into the ballroom. "Lead away."

**Part Four: The Groom**

Lex tried to ignore the raging urge to search for a handy wipe. He'd been a part of the world of the upper crust and the powerful for his entire life. Lionel had raised him well. He may be completely amoral, but he did know how to project the proper successful image. Every event, whether it was something as intimate as a wedding or as solemn as a funeral, was a chance to network, to improve vital business connections, to prove your superiority.

That's why after dinner he'd gone from guest to guest offering his thanks for their presence and their presents. He'd finished talking to the head of the largest robotics firm in the state, when Mr. Earle had siddled up to him. Lex and Bruce had been friends at Excelsior, even after everything had fallen apart with poor Duncan and most of the school viewed him as a raging psycho. Bruce had never been to tightly glued together himself, to be honest. Bruce had been a genuinely good guy, as decent as Oliver was a bully. The thought of that loathsome little man trying to steal the company right out from under him pissed Lex off.

Maybe the threat of usurpation was why his dad had always treated him with such contempt. Of course, his father got what he'd strived for. A true Luthor heir, after all, wouldn't wait for a landfall upon his father's death. He'd just take what he wanted immediately at any cost. So Lex had, and ironically enough he had Chloe Sullivan to thank for all of it.

Rubbing his hand discretely on his jacket, Lex eyed Chloe from across the room, trying desperately to smooth over her relationship with Jimmy. Lex smirked to himself. Bringing Olsen into the affair had been well worth it. Chloe was often so full of herself, so comfortable on her high horse and so endlessly ready to meddle in others' relationships. It had been a pleasure to remind her of how little she did know about dating. Not that he could exactly blame her for dumping Jimmy. The kid was earnest enough and, surprisingly, not a completely hopeless photographer (He'd seen some free charity pics Jimmy had shot at Oliver Queen's request, a favor finagled by Lois, no doubt). Still meteor mutant conspiracies were a little over his head in that same way that his father was just slightly underhanded.

However, even if their relationship was over, and judging by the way that Chloe had just fled to the refreshment table, he bet it was, Lex still felt that Jimmy needed to know exactly what was wrong with her. Lex made a note to himself to leak part of her 33.1 profile to the cub photographer sometime.

Now that i would /i be fun.

For the time being, however, he'd have to content himself with harassing Chloe in person. He made it across the dance floor and stood quietly behind her, watching her closely. The purple satin of the dress clung invitingly over her hips. She was so very different from Lana. The other girl was a waif in every sense of the word, fine-boned and exotic Asian features making her stand out from the All American blandness of the rest of the Kansas farm town. Deep down and despite the "crack" genetics lab at Smallville Med, Lex wondered if Henry Small actually was Lana's biological father.

Chloe was strikingly different, the Rose Red to Lana's Snow White. Lana was fragile and willowy, while Chloe was strong and enticingly curvy. Lana was so trusting, so easily swayed. Despite her mistakes with his father, Chloe was a born skeptic with a wonderfully intoxicating analytical mind. Lana was not stupid, prone to self denial, granted, but not dumb. Chloe, however, was as cunning and ruthless as a Luthor by nature.

Had things been different. Had that lost summer meant anything to her besides escaping isolation and seeking comfort, she might have been the one in the Vera Wang gown this afternoon.

He loved Lana, but even he could admit that in the beginning a large part of that attraction had been because of what she'd meant to Clark. He'd enjoyed working with her at The Talon, that much was true, but even on the ship, she'd never felt like a true partner. In contrast, he'd been struck with Chloe since the day she'd first interviewed him, her questions more rigorous than the standard fair from i The Metropolis Journal /i . She'd always been a partner worthy of his intellect and attention.

And yet, he had to admit that his mother (whether she was actually a ghost or a subconscious projection, he still wasn't sure) was right about other things too. Of all of Clark's high school acquaintances, and he was the first to admit there were precious few of those, Chloe was the one most like him. The one with mental illness lurking in her family history, the one who could be as ruthless and dangerous as he was, the one who'd seen him at his most vulnerable more than once and used it against him.

He'd done the same to her after all. Even though, he felt that mocking her for her lack of a steady boyfriend and perpetual third wheel status was far less harsh than her ripping his true feelings about his father out of him.

She did make a formidable enemy and that thought endeared her to him even more.

He was going to love having her back in her cage far possibly even more than he'd be to finally get Clark's secrets out of him. He could not wait to put her in her place, to wipe that smug expression she'd worn while high on the Veritas serum off of her face permanently.

He smirked to himself, the joy in his tone genuine when he spoke. "Enjoying the evening?"

Lex was seated at the main table, Nell to his right and his father reclining casually to his left. Lana was standing at the front of the ballroom, a little off to the table's side. A mob of women were pushing against one another behind her. He'd noticed with a wry chuckle when Bart had practically flung Chloe into the throng. Oliver, charming bastard that he was, had whispered something into Mrs. Kent's ear as Lana had been lining up. Sure enough, several rows back in the crowd, Lex could make out the familiar flash of red hair.

Lana dipped low and then flung the bouquet behind her. Instantly the women dove toward it, all in a mad scramble to recover it. Lex was briefly reminded of the shark feeding frenzy, he'd seen when "fishing" with his father off of the Great Barrier Reef. When the mob finally parted, Mrs. Kent stood tall with the collection of exquisite African violets and irises in her hand.

Lionel smirked up at him. "Well, son, I suppose this bodes well for me personally and badly for our finances in general. This one already cost three million. What do you think mine and Martha's could top?"

Lex choked back his nausea at the thought of his father marrying anyone again. Not to mention that as wonderful as he'd found the idea back when Rachel Dunleavy had first proposed it to him, he desperately didn't want to be Clark's brother.

The crowd dispersed and Martha, with Clark and Chloe trailing behind her, made her way back to the table. She sat down to his father's left and set the bouquet down in front of her. Clark eyed it like he was tempted to burn it to a cinder. Despite Lex's abhorrence of all things alien, he was equally tempted to cheer Clark on in his efforts.

Martha flashed his father a tentative little half smile. "Well you know what they say about silly superstitions."

"I wouldn't cast superstition aside. Why you know---"

"And as interesting as a long speech about how the Romans got married would be right now, Dad, I'm sure the Kents and their guests," Lex growled out, glaring at Oliver and his companions, "have got to get back to the farm. A cow must need milking somewhere, right Clark?"

Clark glowered at him but mercifully kept his reply short. "Yeah, we should get going. Chlo, Mom, come on."

Mrs. Kent stood up and his father followed suit, leaning down to give her a polite kiss on the back of her hand. "A pleasure as always, Martha."

She blushed and gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks for inviting me. It was a lovely ceremony, Lana. You and Nell planned it flawlessly."

Lex just barely kept himself from letting loose an appreciative whistle. He'd had the unfortunate displeasure of dealing with Nell and her tyrannical need for the perfect wedding for the last two weeks non-stop, and Nell actually i liked /i him. From what Lana had mentioned from yesterday, Nell had been nothing short of outright nasty to Mrs. Kent all day. He was impressed even now with the other woman's flawless breeding. Too bad Clark never picked up any of it.

"Well, Lex," his father chided casting an appreciative look in Mrs. Kent's direction. "Aren't you going to see your guests out?"

Lex nodded and held out his arm for Lana to take. Normally, he made it a point to do anything but what his father advised, but he couldn't resist spending a few more minutes with Chloe and Clark.

Mrs. Kent and the boys kindly held back for a few minutes so that he and Lana could share their goodbyes, although Lex had plenty of things he wanted to say to Oliver too. He was never letting his father get his hands on the guest list for anything ever again. He tended to let the riff raff in.

Lana leaned over and gave Chloe a quick hug. "Thank you for coming. I really appreciated your support."

Chloe glared quickly over at Lex before giving Lana a strained smile. "For you, anything." She sighed and gave the other girl another hug. "Have fun in Paris and be careful."

Lana stiffened at that last little warning but gave Chloe a warm smile in return. "Thanks, we'll be back soon."

Lex had always been impressed by the two-faced nature of women, their seemingly natural ability to be civil to each other even when they were seething underneath it all. They could teach most of the LuthorCorp board of directors a thing or two about being devious. Not that either girl was out to hurt the other. It's just that they'd reached the point of lying point blank to each other and not caring that they were doing it in order to preserve whatever relationship they had left.

Lex had never been able to reach that point before, and neither had Clark; and they had the innumerable arguments to prove it.

Clark took his turn hugging Lana. He leaned over and she hesitated for a second, casting a fearful glance at Lex. Discretely, he gave her forearm a quick squeeze and she let Clark hug her. When he pulled back, however, he was frowning, obviously upset.

He restrained himself from groaning. Lana never had been proficient at hiding anything. It probably was one of the reasons she hated secrets so much, since she couldn't keep one to save her soul. He didn't need to have the element of surprise to get what he wanted from Clark, but it would make things a Hell of a lot simpler if he had it.

"Well, um, yeah." Clark stammered. "Thanks."

"My pleasure," Lex said, nodding. He pointedly did not extend his hand to him. Personally, he'd like for it to remain unbroken. Chloe'd already manhandled him enough for one night.

Clark clenched his teeth and for a giddy little moment, it looked like he might actually take the bait and rant a bit about Lex's pleasure. Then Chloe elbowed him roughly in the side and he relaxed a millimeter. "I know."

Lex leaned over to give Chloe a hug as well. Clark once again went rigid by her side, and he had an uncomfortable vision of being flash fried where he stood. Chloe rolled her eyes and elbowed Clark once again, "Oh please, give me one second to breathe. You did hear me mention that little part about hundreds of witnesses, right?"

"He shouldn't get to touch you."

Lana blushed and started staring intently at the floor. Chloe just rolled her eyes again. "And one day real soon we'll work on our people skills. Yeesh." She sighed and leaned up to accept his hug. He smirked back at Clark before whispering in her ear. "The détente's over."

She broke apart from him and, taking Clark's hand, she spared a glance over her shoulder to Oliver's band of merry men. He and Victor were talking quietly with Mrs. Kent and Bart was grinning back at him with half a piece of carrot cake shoved in his mouth.

"Try something. I dare you." She responded.

"Chlo," Clark cautioned, half-dragging her over the threshold. Lana just looked even more uncomfortable than she had after Oliver's little joke.

"Stop it." She hissed. "I'm fine."

Lex felt his smirk grow. There was that idiotic audacity she'd had so much of back in high school. He feared she'd outgrown it. Lois's occasional jabs at him during the election year had been almost like a sentimental reminder of the glory days of Sullivan-Lane bravado.

She turned back to him. "I'll be ready for you."

He shook his head and gave Clark a brief once over. "No, you won't."


	13. Chapter 13

**Homecoming**

"You boys are certainly smooth, aren't you?" Chloe asked, giving Victor, Bart, and Oliver a wide smile.

Oliver bent down so that he was only a few inches from her face. "I am smooth, sidekick."

She laughed and leaned against one white picket in the fence surrounding the Kents' front yard. "You go on believing that, Jolly Green Giant, but if I ask Lois about your suaveness, I know I'd get another answer."

"You think you know everything."

"Oh, I do." She said, smirking at him. "Still I really appreciate you coming to my rescue with Lex, not that I needed it."

"Wasn't going to imply that you did." Victor said, raising his hands in defeat.

"At least one of you knows who's boss here," she said, looking back at Clark and Bart.

"Oh, trust me, Chiquita, I know you're the boss."

"Suck up," Oliver said, swatting at Bart and grumbling when he blurred away.

Chloe laughed when Bart came to a stop next to her. "I can't believe you asked if Lex had grown a ponytail. How lame was that?"

Bart crossed his arms over his chest. "It's not like he didn't start it. Apparently evil super villains say all sorts of lame things while I'm being tortured. Not cool."

"You'd think old Cue Ball could do better." Oliver mused. "Maybe being engaged sucked out his brain."

Clark frowned. "That's not nice."

"Easy, Boy Scout, it's nothing against our fair Mrs. Luthor personally. I'm just saying, looking over that many flower arrangements and taste testing all that cake probably ruins anyone's brain power."

Victor shook his head as he bounded up the front porch steps. "And they still went with carrot. That's a tragedy."

"That's what I said." Chloe added, stepping through the front door first, flattered that Victor had held it open for her. More often than not with Clark and Bart it was every superpowered person for themselves.

"Of course," Bart said, rubbing at a conspicuous yellow stain on his cummerbund, "Sugar is sugar."

"You do know that you are paying to replace that." Ollie said.

"Fine, dude, do you take Visa?"

"Well since it has my name on it…"

"Minor point. I've got MasterCard too."

"Boys, boys. I'm sure someone can get the stain out." Chloe chided, stepping through Clark's front hall.

"You?" Victor asked, arching an eyebrow.

She snorted. "Please, do I look all domestic goddess over here? Either Mrs. Kent can work her magic or Clark can." The rest of the bros chuckled, and she turned around to face them as she walked. She'd been in this house so many times that she could probably navigate it blind-folded after all. "I'm serious. He's not just a Boy Scout. He's handy all around the house."

Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "I mostly specialize in anything farm and carpentry related."

"Don't let the modesty fool you. He's benefited a lot from not having a sister. All that extra time with Martha in the kitchen."

"At least one of us can cook." He riposted. "I've had your version of salad."

"It wasn't so bad," Bart defended. "It had lettuce and tomatoes and tasted mostly normal."

"She forgot to take the brand name stickers off of the tomatoes before she chopped them."

Chloe glanced down at her feet, making sure that she cleared the step into Clark's living room. "Like a little glue and paper was going to kill anybody. Besides, I wasn't the one who washed them last night."

"Yeah, my bad." Bart added.

"Still," she said, "I've never been one for the happy housewife bit."

"Would you be one who actually volunteers to call home once in a while then?" A familiar voice called out from behind her.

Chloe spun around, almost tripping over her heels in the process. Sitting on the Kents' sofa was her father. His tie was wrinkled, his hair was rumpled, and his suitcase was sitting beside the couch. Clearly, he'd just come from the airport. Over his left shoulder, she spied Lois and A.C. leaning against the window. They were still glaring at one another, but at least they weren't shouting like Victor swore they'd been doing earlier.

"Daddy?"

Her father shook his head. "Chloe, why didn't you call? I've been worried sick about you. Oh and a James Olsen keeps calling me to find out how you are. I almost bought the story about a busted cell phone battery, but when I heard you weren't going to work, I started worrying a lot, and then Martha calls me yesterday and tells me I have to come home because you're sick."

"Martha did that?"

He nodded and stood up. He crossed the few steps separating them and swept her up in a huge hug. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Chloe squeaked.

He nodded. "I went to The Talon and found out you two girls have been evicted."

"Well, yeah, about that. I meant to tell you---"

"And who are all these people? It looks like Clark's starting up a baseball team or something."

"You actually need nine for that." Bart interjected, flinching when Victor slapped him lightly on the back of the head. "Hey! What was that for?"

"No comments from the Peanut Gallery."

Her father frowned at Bart and Victor and then his eyes widened. "Is that Oliver Queen?"

"Oh among other things you can call him," Lois said, starting to stride across the room, but A.C.'s hand on her forearm stopped her. "What?" She snapped.

"Not now. You can thrash Ollie in a few minutes."

"That would be appreciated, Lo." Chloe called out, waving a little to her cousin.

Her father shook his head and turned his attention from the billionaire playboy in the room back to her. MIA daughter apparently trumped famous mogul just this once. Okay, every time, but she got it. It would be weird to walk into a room and just have Bill Gates randomly standing there. "Chloe, I don't understand what's been going on."

"Well, it's been a lot of things." She hedged. And where the Hell was Martha Kent anyway? The rest of them had gotten a ride back with Ollie, and yet the familiar battered station wagon had not followed right behind them. Still, if the older woman had gone through all the subterfuge to get Chloe to open up to her father, she really should be here too.

"A lot of things that kept you from even e-mailing?"

"Um, you see---"

"Are we going to have to go into witness protection again?"

"It's not quite like that."

"What's it like then?" He said, his hands still clutching her shoulders.

Chloe stopped and looked around. Every one was staring at her. Lois was glancing back and forth between Ollie and A.C. with barely contained rage. Bart and Victor were still leaning against the grandfather clock, both studiously watching the floor. Clark was off to her side, for once smart enough not to be clinging to her as doggedly as wet denim, and her father was staring at her with such hurt in his eyes, such confusion. It reminded her of the crushed expression he'd had when he told her that he'd been fired from LuthorCorp.

It was all too much.

She just wanted it all to stop. She wanted to be able to sleep without waking up every forty-five minutes just to check and make sure she wasn't actually lying vivisected on a lab table. She wanted not to trade threats with Lex. God, she just wanted to feel safe again. And then she felt the familiar tingle climbing over her limbs and down her chest. Panicked, she tried to make it stop, but she was still so new at everything and once the changes had started, she couldn't reverse them.

Or maybe her subconscious was just winning out and it wanted to be protected no matter what else she felt.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking deep breaths and desperately trying to will herself back to normal. The faint tingles would not abate and she felt the heat spreading over the back of her shoulders when Clark stepped forward to place a gentle hand on her back.

"Chlo?"

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. The rest of the Bros were staring at her with their jaws hanging open. After a few seconds, Bart was at least able to form a coherent thought, "Oh wow." He was actually grinning when he said it. "So if I were to say that we need to call heaven because an angel is missing---"

"Not now, Bart," Ollie growled.

Chloe turned back to look at her family. Lois had balled both fists up at her sides and had turned to stare directly at Clark. "What did you do?"

"Me?" He asked, his voice actually breaking a little on the reply. "Why do you think I had anything to do with this?"

"Because it's your stupid hometown and you always let her drag you off to weird locales to investigate."

" i Let her? /i Have you met Chloe? And I resent that you think everything that goes wrong has to do with me."

Chloe rolled her eyes. Technically, everything that had gone wrong in Smallville for the last seventeen years was related to Clark, not that it was his fault, but it was all connected. She sighed and blocked out their argument. It was a self-preservation skill she'd honed over the years of being friends with them.

Steadying herself, she looked back at her father. His hands were still clutching her shoulders and she couldn't read the expression on his face. It was a mix of disappointment and confusion and something else she couldn't quite place but hoped wasn't fear.

"Chloe?"

"I…"

Lois and Clark's voices were getting louder as they argued and she could feel the Bros gaping at her along with her father.

Too much, too much.

She pulled away and started back through the alcove.

"Chloe!" Her father yelled. "Come back."

Oliver grabbed her arm as she passed, "Sidekick, where are you going?"

She shook her head and pried his fingers off of her. "I have to go."

And then suddenly Bart was in front of her. "You should stay, Chloe." Bart said, running his fingers experimentally over her collarbone.

"No, I'm not staying. Not right now."

"But Chloe…" Victor started.

She was about to yell at them both to leave her alone, when someone else called out instead.

"Clark! Lois! Stop fighting this minute. I expected more of you both." Martha yelled as she came through the kitchen entrance. She caught sight of Chloe in all her crystallized splendor for the first time but her stern facial expression never changed. Chloe was impressed. Martha Kent would have made a hell of a poker player.

Martha walked into the middle of the front hall, giving her a vantage point where she could see everyone. She focused on Clark first. "Clark, could you and Chloe go out to the loft for a while, please?"

He nodded, actively avoiding eye contact with Lois. "Yes mom."

"Good." She turned toward Ollie. "Mr. Queen, would you mind if you and your friends went back into town for about an hour? The girls' furniture is all moved, but The Talon always has been a nice place to hang out."

Oliver gave a brief nod. "I'd be delighted Mrs. Kent." He frowned. "Do you want me to invite Lois too?"

Lois glared at him as if he'd just suggested that she become Lex Luthor's spare wife. "I'm not going anywhere with him."

"Hey at least it'll give you time to yell at him." A.C. offered, already crossing the room to join the rest of the Bros.

"Lois," Martha said, her tone infinitely patient. "I need to talk to Gabe in private and I need it to be quiet when I do it. I know you and Mr. Queen might not have parted on the best terms, but I need you to put that all aside right now."

Lois bit her lip and glanced at Chloe. "And I'm just supposed to abandon my little cousin?"

"Chloe's going to be fine." Martha replied, giving Lois a reassuring smile. Chloe knew that smile well. She'd seen it dozens of times over the years. It was the one that had inspired her to plan various ways to recruit Martha to become her own mother in eighth grade. She'd come up with a very high tech kidnapping involving a burlap sack or offering Martha her spare chore money. Either way, when Clark's mom looked at you like that, it always made you feel like she understood everything. Like she could fix everything. "Please, Lois, do as I say."

Her father spoke for the first time, coming out of his fog a little. "Like a good soldier, right Lo? Think about what the General would say if you didn't do what the Senator asked." Despite the rebuke, his tone was gentle and he gave her a crooked half smile.

She nodded and joined A.C. alongside the rest of the Bros. "Alright, Uncle Gabe." Then she turned to Chloe and, to her surprise, captured her in a fierce hug. "If you need anything, little cuz, just let me know. He of the poorly done highlights can't keep me away for long."

Chloe snickered and pulled back. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Liar."

"But I do it with such conviction."

"Maybe," she said, giving her a playful punch on the shoulder and then pulling her fist back sharply. "Ouch. I'm going to have to not do that anymore."

"Finally," Clark mumbled under his breath. "I've been waiting for you to stop that for years."

Lois narrowed her eyes at him. "Just because you don't have any pain tolerance, Smallville---"

"Enough." Martha said putting her hands on Ollie and Lois's shoulders and scooting them toward the door. "You two can continue arguing tomorrow." And with that the Bros and Lois exited out the door.

"Mom?"

Martha nodded. "You two can go now. It's gonna be fine. I promise."

"Wish I believed that." Chloe muttered to herself before she followed Clark out of the kitchen door and to the barn.

She didn't say anything for a while, but instead merely sat on the ragged old couch in the loft and leaned quietly against his chest. The adrenaline rush caused by seeing her father had subsided and she'd managed to shift back to normal. It was all very too little, too late to matter. Long, nimble fingers combed their way through her hair, and she sighed. It was the first overture of communication she'd made since they'd arrived in the loft.

Clark pulled her tighter to him. "How are you doing?"

"Do you really need to ask that question?"

She could feel his shoulders move as he shrugged. "It felt like a good conversation opener. Seriously, you've been very quiet."

"And this worries you?"

"I like to hear what you have to say, besides a quiet Chloe Sullivan is like a i not /i annoying Lois Lane. It's just unnatural."

"Seems to be a theme for the day anyway."

He sighed in turn and brushed a kiss over the crown over her head. "You shouldn't worry so much. I think everyone took the whole thing fairly well." 

"Yeah, my dad can hardly speak, Lois looks like she wants to kill you, and even the rest of Justice was shocked by it."

"Bart still thinks you're hot."

"He has issues."

"Well, I like the look too, so I think you're the only one bothered by it."

"Then you're both just twisted."

"Maybe. Oh, and Lois always wants to kill me. She was just using you as an excuse to try kicking my ass."

"She's never actually attempted that, has she?"

"Nope. She'd be in traction if she had."

"No doubt." Chloe rubbed her left shoulder. "She might actually rethink her random punching policy now. I hope she didn't bruise anything."

"If her hand's as hard as her head, she'll be fine." He quipped.

Chloe giggled. "That wasn't very nice."

"But it did get you to lighten up, so I think that's all that matters." He hugged her again. "But I'm guessing what's really bothering you is that your father saw everything."

"I could be embarrassed that the Bros saw too."

"But you were going to have show off your awesome superpowers the first time we went out on a mission, so that part was definitely inevitable." He paused then and Chloe could practically feel him frowning. "You weren't going to tell your family anything, were you?"

"I was going to ease into telling my dad. I figured I'd be ready in thirty years. Forty tops."

"That's the spirit." He riposted and then in a more sincere tone added. "I thought you and you dad were really close."

"We are. It's just that I didn't want to ruin that very i Little House on the Prairie /i thing we had going with my meteor mutant revelation."

He snorted. "Like you've ever been homespun. Besides, you guys have been through worse than this."

"You mean with my mom getting sick."

"Yeah. Something like that might have broken a family apart. I know it's not the same, but when my dad got back from having his heart surgery, he started drifting apart from the rest of us. It sounds weird now, but back then I was worried he'd do something drastic like leave the farm or maybe us. He got better, but it was rough for a while."

"I couldn't imagine what would have happened if my dad had just given up on me after mom. I would have ended up living with Grammy Sullivan or maybe with the General."

"Lois would have liked that."

"I wouldn't have. I'm not cut out for barracks living."

"That's for sure," He admitted, his fingers deftly pulling out the bobby pins still holding her hair in place.

"Hey!"

He continued. "I got tired of just stroking your bangs. Sue me." Taking a deep breath he added, "Your dad isn't going to leave you now not that, technically, you still live together."

"I know you keep saying that—"

"Because it's true."

"---but he never signed on for a superpowered kid. You were lucky."

"Extremely, but I know how you feel."

She wanted to argue with him, but the reporter in her was curious to her the story he was hinting at. Angling her head so that she could see him, she asked, "Really?"

"Everything from when I was young is really fuzzy. I don't remember not being able to speak English even though mom swears it took me almost a year to pick it up, and I definitely don't remember the day of the meteor shower."

"I kind of assumed that." Chloe knew from one of their many talks that Clark hadn't known he was an alien until the beginning of freshmen year. Obviously, if he had remembered stepping out of his spaceship, seeing it unveiled twelve years later wouldn't have come as such a shock.

"But," He added, "I remember some things very clearly. I remember the first day I came into town because it was just so loud. I mean, my hearing was normal back then, but compared to my ship or even the peace of the farm, Smallville was so noisy."

"Good thing you didn't land in Metropolis then."

"Ha-ha."

"What else do you remember?"

"I was always stronger than I should have been, but it started out a lot more proportional than it is now." Chloe nodded. Truth be told, none of them knew exactly how strong Clark was and there wasn't any way to measure it. However, considering he could make diamonds in under a minute, he had to be blessed with ludicrous amounts of strength. "When I first got here, I think I was just a little stronger than my mom. I used to be able to break away from her and stuff when she tried to hold me down to put pajamas on me or whatever."

Chloe snickered. "Natural born nudist. Should I tell A.C. he has a no pants buddy?"

"Please don't. No, I mean, a lot of little kids go through a naked phase and it's not like my ship had a dress code." 

"Point."

"Thanks." He said, sighing, "But I got inhumanly strong pretty fast. I must have still been 'three,' and my dad and I were playing hide and seek and I hid under their bed."

"Okay."

"And dad tried to get me to come out by crawling in after me, but he got stuck and I was worried so I just lifted the bed up. It just seemed like the easiest thing to do at the time."

She whistled. She'd seen the monster four-poster that was in his parents' room. "That bed must weigh five hundred pounds."

"About that." He conceded. "At first I was so happy because I was able to get my dad out and everything, but then I looked up and actually saw him. I'd never seen my dad scared before, and I've only seen him scared of me one time since."

"Red K?"

"No, actually, the day of Lex and Helen's wedding at the hospital after mom had…" He trailed off, unable to finish his thought. He didn't have to say anything else. Chloe knew what had happened that day, knew what the Kents had lost.

"It's okay."

"Yeah, now." He said. "But the whole superstrength thing freaked my dad out. The next day he and my mom packed me up drove me to a lab."

Chloe was shocked and she felt her mouth fall open and her jaw move up and down as she struggled to form a reply. That didn't even seem possible. Clark's parents had done everything in their power for years to protect his secret. His dad, because of Jor-El's machinations, had been forced to trade his life for his son's. She never could have imagined them turning him over as an experiment. "No way."

He nodded. "They did. It wasn't too terribly long after the shower so I didn't understand a lot of the words, but I did get the tone. I mean, it's not hard to understand when people are yelling at each other."

"They yelled?" Chloe couldn't have been more surprised if Clark had told that his mom and dad whipped out Uzis and held up the local mini-mart.

"My mom was really angry. She didn't want to turn me in, and I think my dad kept insisting that they should because they didn't really know how to take care of me. I guess it was kind of like bringing home a baby tiger and being shocked when you realized it actually had teeth. I don't know what happened, maybe it was because I was crying so hard or maybe because my mom was really convincing or maybe it was just because my dad couldn't stand the way the place looked----all grey and drab----but we drove away and they've sheltered me ever since."

"My god. That's horrible."

He gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Well, I'm gonna guess it was a huge shock to see me use my strength for the first time. Maybe mom struck a deal so that dad would agree to keep me until anything weird showed up, betting that if I looked human everything else would pan out. I don't know."

Chloe squinted up at him. "She doesn't know you remember this, does she."

"There's no point." He said, shrugging. "They've given up so much for me since then and it would just make her feel bad to know I knew. But yeah, I definitely know that parents can freak out when powers start showing up. Chlo," he said, taking her hands in his. "My parents didn't just abandon me and I know that your dad won't either."

"What if he doesn't love me anymore?"

"Well that's just stupid. Everyone loves you."

"Ha-ha."

"No, I'm serious. Did I tell you Bart and I are in a wooing contest to get you to date us? Um, not at the same time, though, just the winner."

"Were you supposed to tell me that?"

"It was never a i confidential /i wooing contest."

"I see."

"And Lois loves you enough to come to Smallville and search out massive Lex-sponsored conspiracies."

"That is some dedication right there."

"I'm also pretty sure she puts up with me only because we're friends, and I mean so much to you."

"Uh-huh. I don't think you and Lois actually hate each other as much as you want the rest of us to believe."

"No, trust me. We hate each other."

"But you both love me."

"Exactly. Just like your dad."

She snorted, "Here's hoping."

Clark frowned but before he could reply his mother appeared at the top of the loft stairs. Her expression was frustratingly neutral and Chloe couldn't glean whether or not her talk with her father had gone well. "Chloe, would you go see your father now? He wanted some uninterrupted time with you, sans Kents."

She looked up at Clark and he gave her a reassuring smile. "Go on. Mom and I will be right here if you need anything."

Sighing, she stood up and made her way to the top of the loft steps. Martha gave her a quick squeeze on her shoulder as she moved towards her son. Chloe's footfalls felt heavy on the stairs and the expanse between the barn and the little yellow farm house seemed to stretch forever. But slowly she crossed it, both reluctant and desperate to meet with her father on the other side.


	14. Chapter 14

**The Best Policy**

"Would you like some tea, Gabe?"

Still standing in the middle of the Kents' living room, Gabe Sullivan blinked and turned to look at Martha. He hadn't been able to focus on anything since Chloe and Clark had left for the barn. He didn't understand what was happening, what Chloe had done, how calm Martha could be in the face of all of this. It was as confusing as a summer dust storm, everything swirling around in front of him, and nothing tangible.

Shambling from the hall and falling into one of the sturdy wooden chairs at the kitchen table, Gabe looked back to Martha. She had just put two mugs, each speckled with Holstein black spots, into the microwave.

i Tea in thirty seconds or less, something hot to make the rest of this real /i , he thought to himself.

She turned and leaned against the island in the kitchen. "It'll be done in a minute or so. How are you doing?"

"Confused. Scared for Chloe. Confused."

"You said that twice."

"I'm doubly confused."

The microwave dinged and she opened it. A mug handle clenched in each hand, she settled herself in the chair across from him at the table. Pushing a mug toward him, she smiled. "It helps if you remember to breathe."

"I am breathing." He frowned. "At least I thought I was."

She chuckled, "Well you don't have blue lips yet, that's for sure." Her laugh was warm and deep and it reminded him just fleetingly of Moira's. He'd been able to make her laugh quite a bit, once upon a time. After a while, she regained her composure, a slight frown causing a line between her eyebrows. "Gabe, how much do you know about Smallville. Anything unusual?"

"I know the EPA was always breathing down LuthorCorp's neck and that we always averaged twice as many safety inspections as any other fertilizer plant in the country. I felt I was on a first name basis with the inspectors."

"Do you know why?"

"Health problems in Smallville. There were never any increased cancer rates, but there were a lot of reported incidents of higher than normal white blood cell counts in the population. The EPA and certain lawyers in town were planning a class action against the plant but they could never find the proof." He snorted. "We didn't do anything wrong. In fact, after Lex took over, he was extra cautious about the waste disposal at the plant and trying to not only meet but come under whatever emissions standards the EPA set."

She nodded. "But there still were the high levels of white blood cells in part of the population. Did you ever wonder why that might be if the plant wasn't responsible?"

"Honestly, Martha, Chloe and I weren't sick as far as I could tell and the plant was continually exonerated and that was all that mattered to me."

She pursed her lips. "Well, it was never the plant."

"Hah! I knew it!"

"It's the meteor rocks."

"What?"

"The meteor rocks from both showers have an unusual effect on some people, not all, but a portion of the town has been altered by them."

"Altered how?"

"Have you ever seen Chloe's Wall of Weird?"

He nodded. "I always thought it was weird when she started keeping track of all the two-headed cows, five legged frogs, and urban legends that sprouted up in this town. See, I've always loved The Inquisitor. I mean, I read Chloe's articles every day and have them all scrap booked, but it's Lois's I love poring over. Did you see her coverage of vampires in Suicide Slums? It was so interesting. Not as good as her alligators in the sewers article series but still…"

Martha laughed again. "Lois has always had an interesting perspective on the truth."

"I'm proud of Chloe. The Planet is the best paper in the country, bar none, and she's had two front page articles all ready. However, if I need entertainment, I read The Inquisitor. Don't tell Chloe, though. She hates tabloids. Still, back in high school it seemed that a lot of her stories had a tabloid flare---bug boys and sandmen. It actually fit along her original newspaper passions back when she was very little but it was never exactly Planet material."

"Except in this town it's all true."

"I never thought it would be fake. I told Principle Kwan as much when he suspended Chloe from The Torch. She doesn't lie, not when it comes to the press. Besides," he added, biting his lower lip in a gesture he knew he'd passed onto Chloe. "You used to hear things in this town, see things too. No one ever talked about it, but we all knew it was there, like the way Earl Jenkins shook so much and was able to tear apart metal. Or that Ian kid Chloe and Lana both dated. I swear, one day I left Chloe and Ian working on an article together at home and dropped by The Talon for some cappuccinos--I have a slight coffee addiction, you know----and there he was with Lana cramming for Calculus and he couldn't have beat me. It just wasn't possible." He shrugged. "But it was one of those things that you i never /i talk about here."

"Well it's all because of the way the meteor rocks change people."

"Chloe called them 'meteor freaks' in her articles."

Martha wrinkled her nose as if she'd bitten into a piece of fruit only to realize it was rotten underneath the peel. "I don't like that term. She's been using it for herself, and I've always found it derogatory."

Gabe frowned. He was not Chloe nor was he Moira. His wife had had a fabulous analytical mind before she'd gotten sick. She'd been an up and coming reporter in her own right at the Metropolis Journal instead of the Planet. Like their daughter, she had always been Sherlock Holmes-level good at piecing clues together. He was really just a lucky schlub who had managed to win her heart with a pretty sophomoric comedy routine he used to do at the Yuck Yuck Club when they were in college. Yet, while he wasn't Sherlock Holmes, he wasn't stupid either. As he sat there, the little things he'd learned about Clark over the years began to come back to him. He'd been married once, to a girl who'd tried to kill Lana----a girl who'd been able to even attempt it because, if rumors were true, she could teleport. Clark on his own had always been a weird guy: no sports of any kind (not that he could complain, the Sullivans were not athletes), mysterious disappearances, convenient timing that he'd heard Chloe speculate on more than once around the dinner table.

It all clicked and for one fleeting moment Gabe knew what it was like to be Chloe.

"Clark's been infected, too, hasn't he?"

Martha tensed for a second and he could see a myriad of emotions pass over her face. It reminded him of the press conferences she gave as senator and he had the feeling that whatever reply he was getting would be significantly edited from the complete truth. "The meteors affect Clark."

"And they affected Chloe too." He felt a sharp stab of pain in his chest. "Why didn't she tell me? She had to have known that she could come to me with all of this."

"That's what I kept telling her, but Chloe and Clark are different. The way the meteors affect people is always different, no two meteor-affected individuals have the same abilities and, according to Chloe herself, not all meteor-affected people develop abilities immediately after exposure. Clark…he's been different since we adopted him." Again her eyes clouded over with doubt, and Gabe was convinced that she was holding out on him.

"And Chloe?" He asked, afraid of the answer. It hurt that they'd apparently drifted so much since she went to Met U that she had been more comfortable confiding in the Kents than in him. Or maybe she'd been hiding it since high school. That thought hurt even worse.

Martha gave him a small, reassuring smile before taking a quick sip of her own tea. "Chloe didn't know she was infected, didn't even know she had the potential to develop an ability until about nine days ago, and that's when she manifested for the first time."

He gave a big sigh of relief. "I see, and what exactly is it that she does?

I…I don't think I've seen anything like that." He thought back to what he'd seen in the Kents' living room, how his daughter took on the appearance of some rare and fragile collectible, how her already bright eyes had shined like emeralds. She'd been beautiful, but he wasn't sure how being breathtaking was an ability.

"There are different types of meteor-infected people. Chloe has a whole classification system for them, actually, but I think there are two important different types. Each meteor-affected person only has one power."

"Like, um, Clark's wife."

Martha stilled and said nothing for a second and Gabe got that familiar feeling of having put his foot in his mouth. Now i that /i was a family specialty. "Yes, Alicia was a teleporter. The first type where there truly is only one power resulting from the exposure. But there's a second type, too. Some individuals have a power that sort of bleeds over, ends up manifesting as multiple related abilities. Do you remember Tina Greer?"

"Yeah, she tried to kill Lana and then she did murder a local marine recruiter. When it happened The Ledger ran a whole memorial issue on him and everything."

She nodded. "Her bones had been affected by the first meteor shower. It made them both super strong and allowed her to shift them so she could take on other people's appearances. So, even though the blast only affected her bones, she could do more than one thing. Chloe's the same way. She can…well, the best word Clark and she have come up with is 'crystallize' herself. When she shifts, it makes her very strong and close to invulnerable."

He nodded back, his eyes wide. "Then she is like a superhero?"

Martha arched a skeptical eyebrow. "I suppose that's a way to put it."

Gabe beat down the giddy little thrill rising up inside him. Based on Chloe's face before she fled to the security of the Kents' barn, she was not happy about how her life had changed. Still, Gabe had been a slight---okay a huge---geek in high school. Besides his obsession with SNL, he'd always enjoyed comic books. The thought of what his daughter could do was just too amazing. "Oh boy." He paused and narrowed his eyes at her. "What can Clark do?"

Martha glanced down at the table's surface before answering. "He's very strong and very fast."

He frowned. "Like increased muscle strength so even his leg muscles are so strong he runs fast."

"Something like that." 

"Alright, well this isn't so bad at all. When I found the apartment locked up and couldn't get in touch with her, especially when I couldn't get in touch with her, I thought it might have been…well I don't even want to say what it might have been out loud."

"She's fine. She'll have to tell you all of it on her own, but I promise she's okay now and Clark and I are taking care of her."

"I don't like how that last part sounded, Martha."

"No one touched her like that."

"But why do I have the feeling that someone has gotten to her."

"That's between you and Chloe. There are some things that I think a daughter does have to tell her father on her own." Gabe swallowed and willed his heart to slow down. Something bad had happened to Chloe and he'd been stuck in Canada the entire time and unable to help his little girl. Martha reached out and placed a gentle hand on his wrist. "Gabe, there is one more thing I should tell you."

"Worse than what you've already alluded to?"

"I don't think it's worse because I don't think it's a possibility, not for Chloe, but it is important."

"What?"

"The meteor rocks often, not always, Clark's known quite a few meteor-infected people who weren't that way---"

"What way?"

"Some of them become mentally unstable. They hurt people, sometimes even murder them and end up in Belle Reve."

"Moira."

"Excuse me?"

"I know how Chloe got infected. She and her mother got caught up in the 1989 meteor shower. They were driving through Smallville on the way to Granville to visit Moira's parents, but then the sky started falling. The car was damaged a little and they were injured and ended up spending a night in the hospital before they were discharged. The doctors said everything was fine."

"Well no one knew then what the meteors could do, no one even suspected."

He nodded before continuing. "Everything was fine for a while, but when Chloe was about five Moira started up with this theory. I thought it was a delusion. She said that sometimes when she'd stop in Smallville on the way to visit her parents that strange things would happen. She'd be able to get the gas station attendant or the waitress to do things, whatever she asked. She even got a kid standing outside of Milt's Gas Station to hop up and down on one leg for five minutes straight. She started claiming she could control people."

"You didn't believe her."

"Of course I didn't. It sounded, well, it sounded crazy. And then a little bit after Chloe's fifth birthday, I came home and found Chloe clutching her stomach beside the sink in her bathroom. She'd drunken a whole bottle of liquid soap."

"My god."

"Moira was panicked. She was preparing dinner downstairs and Chloe said a swear word and she'd told her to wash her mouth out with soap. She didn't think anything of it. It's just a standard punishment, run a little Zest over the tongue and no more curses, but Chloe drank the whole bottle. Moira came in and witnessed her doing it and couldn't even pry her off it. She claimed it was like Chloe i had /i to finish it"

"What happened?" Martha prodded, her voice gentle.

"We got her stomach pumped. She was fine. It was traumatic, but obviously she pulled through. But it was too much for Moira. She was convinced she couldn't be around Chloe, that she'd hurt her again. Finally, she told me she was going to commit herself to a mental hospital in Granville. She didn't want to put Chloe in danger anymore and she knew that all her suspicions about her 'ability' had to be crazy. She just wanted help. So I took her. She asked and she was going with or without me, so I helped her do it." He took a deep breath before he continued. "She wasn't like the Moira I met in college toward the end. She was distant and distracted and she got to the place where she was afraid to even be in the same room as our daughter."

"So you made it look like Moira just left one day."

"Well she did. I just didn't want to tell Chloe where she'd gone. The hospital where she's staying is very nice as far as those places go, but it was no place to take a kindergartener, and Moira didn't want Chloe to remember her mother as being crazy."

"But Chloe thinks Moira abandoned her. Besides, Gabe, Chloe does know. She tracked her mom down two years ago and has been visiting her since."

"She knows?"

"Not about the meteor shower part, but she's terrified she's doubly likely to go crazy because of the schizophrenia in her family. Clark told me how rejected she's always felt because her mom abandoned her and that's not how it happened at all, is it?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not. Moira even got better for a while. Maybe it was because there was no chance of her meeting up with meteor-infected people in Granville. They let her out about a year later and things were better for a while, but then when Chloe was eight, Moira accidentally suggested something that Chloe took as an order. That time she scrubbed the skin off her own arms. Moira couldn't take the guilt and checked herself back in and then a little while after she entered the hospital, she went catatonic. She's been that way ever since."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. I visit her every weekend. I bring her fresh tulips just like she loves and read her the newest articles from the Planet and the Journal, but it's like she's not even there." He sighed. "I miss who she used to be and at the same time, every day Chloe gets more and more like her mother. It's uncanny and it hurts."

Martha bit her lip and didn't say anything for a long moment. "Gabe, I think it's best if you don't tell Chloe about her mother, at least for a while. She already knows where Moira is, but I don't think it would be good for her to know that her mother is meteor-infected. She's already afraid of going insane---it's her greatest fear in fact. If she already knows what the meteor rocks have done to someone so closely related to her, she might just resign herself to that fate, start thinking it's inevitable."

"Is it? Oh god, I can't lose Chloe too. It was bad enough when she slit her wrists last year, and I knew it was an accident. I knew she'd never do that no matter what Lois or Lana thought."

"Clark believed her too."

"Smart boy. Well most of the time." He rolled his eyes. It was his habit and something wee Chloe had picked up on and emulated since first grade. "If he'd figured out how much he cared for my little girl earlier, my life would have been a lot simpler."

Martha gave him a wry half smile. "So you've noticed it too?"

"The way he hovered over her and wouldn't take a reassuring hand off of her shoulder the entire time? Yeah, I noticed. I used to try and posture like that for Moira. It never worked for me since I've never been tall or large, but I know the look when I see it."

Martha clutched at the simple gold band on her left finger. "Me too." Then she squeezed his hand again. "I don't think Chloe is going to become unstable. She's had a lot thrown at her over the years. She's been keeping Clark's abilities a secret since her senior year of high school, been tied up in all this mess of mutants and other things, and she's always been his rock. She's the most level-headed young woman I've ever met."

"But you still don't think I should tell her."

"I think it would upset her a lot and it might never happen to her. Like I said, there are a lot of meteor-infected people who are perfectly sane and never hurt anyone. Some who even help others."

"Like Clark?"

"In a way."

He took a final sip of his tea, letting the now lukewarm dregs slide down his throat. Everything in the last hour had been so surreal. "So our kids have superpowers, huh."

"I don't know if I'd put it that way. With Clark we always called it his 'gifts' or his 'abilities.' I never wanted anything to go to his head."

He chuckled. "I guess not. So, do you have any tips?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure if I have anything that would help. Clark was so little when his manifested. Jonathon and I spent a lot of time teaching him how to be careful around hu…other people and how to hide. Three year olds don't understand why they can't just lift the station wagon in front of company sometimes."

"I can imagine."

"Chloe's different. She's smart and she knows how to hide what she can do. Clark's been working on helping her control it, too, since she can't do much to hurt him."

"He's stronger than her?"

"Much." Martha said, pride coloring her voice.

"We'll see." He answered. Gabe had a momentary flash of a talent show with their two children vying with one another for the most impressive superpowers. He was pretty sure Chloe'd win. Sure Clark was strong, but he didn't look ethereal when he used his "gifts."

"Clark was very lonely growing up. We wouldn't let him tell anybody what he could do. Eventually, he told Pete their sophomore year."

"I always liked that kid. He appreciated Chloe from the start." Gabe smiled, thinking of the nervous freshmen who'd shown up on his front porch with the slightly wilted corsage Homecoming night.

"And then he had Chloe during college."

"I thought you said she knew in senior year?"

"She did, but she is such a good secret keeper that she didn't tell even Clark that she knew until college. She was waiting for him to confess since she spied him using his powers when he didn't think anyone was watching."

"Oh."

Martha nodded. "Thank you."

"For what? I've been out of town the last two years for work."

"For Chloe. It's like he's a whole different person since she's known. He still persisted in moping after Lana---"

"Tell me about it." Gabe said, shaking his head. He'd loved the other girl as his own for nearly two years but it had been hard to actually like her not when she was the reason, even if she didn't mean to be, for Chloe always being so upset. He'd become less enchanted with her when she hadn't even bothered to send a flower arrangement let alone come back for their "funerals."

Gratitude was not a trait Lana Lang had.

"But now he has someone who's not me or his father whom he could confide in, who didn't care that he was different. I don't think Pete was ever quite able to accept him a hundred percent."

"I see." He sighed. "But you and Clark have known since she first manifested and now Lois and apparently the richest man in Star City know so she's got quite a few people in on her secret."

Martha gave an apologetic shrug. "I don't know what Oliver has to do with any of this actually, aside from having once dated Lois, but he and Clark apparently became friends when he was in town this fall."

"He's not going to exploit her, is he?"

Martha shook her head. "If Clark trusts him, I trust him. Besides, I know Oliver's track record. Only the Wayne family has given more to charity and spent more time and effort on non-profits than Oliver Queen and his parents. But he's not the billionaire you need to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you have to talk to Chloe to get the answer to that."

Gabe watched as Chloe opened the door to the kitchen. She slipped inside but stayed still, leaning against the back door, looking as if she were ready to bolt at any second. It broke his heart. This was his daughter, his life. She should be able to trust him. Pushing himself up from the table, he crossed the Kents' kitchen and swept her up in a hug.

" i Caoimhneil /i ," he said, using the endearment Grammy Sullivan had first given to her in the hospital and which had stuck with her far into middle school. "God, why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry," She said, before breaking down into tears. It shocked him. He hadn't seen Chloe cry since the first Friday back at school senior year when she'd come up with this crazy theory that Clark and Lois were falling in love with each other. She'd grown up so much in her young life, become so tough, and he was used to her steely resolve, her no-holds-barred reporter's mentality. It had been so long since he'd held his little girl like this, felt her quivering in his arms.

He whispered softly to her and stroked her hair, pulling it further out of the hairstyle she'd worn it in for the wedding.

Finally, hiccupping a little, she pulled back from him and said, "What is with my hair today? First Clark wants to ruin it and now you. Is it really that bad?" She finished, rubbing at her eyes, her mascara blurring off on her palms

"It looked lovely, sweetheart. I just wanted to be able to stroke your hair. It usually makes you feel better."

"Then you both know me very well," She said sniffling.

He smiled and led her over to the Kents' sofa. Chloe had to be tired from wearing those high heels all day and this wasn't the kind of conversation he wanted to have across a kitchen table. Sitting down, and letting Chloe lean into him, he asked, "You still didn't answer my question: Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked down at her hands and started to pick haphazardly at the periwinkle colored polish on her nails. "I was embarrassed and scared. I thought maybe that would be it, the final straw. I was afraid you wouldn't love me anymore."

" i Caoimhneil /i , you're a very bright girl, way smarter than your old dad, but that might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There's nothing you could do that would make me stop doing that."

She dared to look up at him. "Come on. I got you fired, ruined your career, landed you in witness protection and almost got you blown up."

"And who was the first person to frame the DP articles about the trial? I was so proud of you. I know it didn't stick, but you took down an evil man. You made Metropolis a better place."

She snorted. "Knowing what I know now. I think I want Lionel back over Junior."

"Maybe." He conceded, still a little confused. Even if Lex hadn't offered to help him get rehired after Lionel's conviction, he'd always been a fair boss and a pretty decent guy. He couldn't quite understand Chloe's animosity, especially considering that her best friend had just married him. "Still, after living with our own secret service for a few months, there's nothing you could pull that would either surprise or upset me. Well, let me change that. As long as I don't have to hear any kind of details about James Olsen, I'm happy."

"We're not together anymore. We broke up at the wedding."

"Is there a tall, dark, and indecisive reason for that?"

"No, just a meteor-rock inspired reason." She finished. "I assumed Martha told you everything about that."

"A little. Most of it I already knew from your incredible articles back in The Torch days. I miss that journalism. Why don't you cover Bigfoot like your cousin?"

"Daddy!" She shrieked, slapping at his shoulder. "You've been buying The Inquisitor again."

"Maybe a little. Best entertainment in town, plus I need to have my horoscope on a daily basis, gotta have those lucky lotto numbers."

She giggled a little. "I still wouldn't line a bird cage with it."

"You have no sense of guilty pleasures." He said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Still, I wish you'd called me."

"I didn't tell Lois either. This whole thing," She said, gesturing to herself. "Is so weird and I'm the curator of the Wall of Weird and what I can do is a new one."

Ignoring her self deprecating tone, Gabe continued. "Do you know what I told Martha?"

"Nope."

"I said I think you're like a superhero, and I might have implied that your powers are better than Clark's. Superstrength's like a dime a dozen. I mean, you have The Hulk, and The Thing and whatever, but you, what you can do is beautiful."

Chloe hesitated. "Clark, huh? Well, it's nice our parents started comparing our superpowers. It's all like senior year when you went around telling everybody about my scholarship to Met U."

"We're competitive."

"You really think what I can do is beautiful?"

"Look, I know I'm not quite as objective as that short guy in the stained tuxedo."

"Bart."

"Yeah, him, and I'd wager that Clark's said the same thing considering he has working eyeballs."

"He did."

"You know, honey, when three people say it, it's a fact. It's a rule of three thing like the reverse of that old superstition that all deaths come in threes."

"Right."

"I'm serious. It's beautiful. It's like---"

"Please don't say an ice sculpture. That metaphor's been done to death by Clark."

"Like at the end of Edward Scissorhands?"

"I give you credit for the Johnny Depp allusions." She added.

"Your eyes are amazing too. Proves how Irish you are. I haven't seen shamrocks that green, i caoimhneil /i ."

"Laying it on thick, huh Dad?"

"Not at all." Off her frown, he added. "Maybe a bit. But this is pretty cool to me. You should see under my bed."

"I try and avoid piles of magazines read 'just for the articles.' Besides, you're a terrible house cleaner. I think there are whole colonies of mold spores grow off of old pizza boxes hiding out there."

"I am not that bad."

"You should hire a maid. I know that your job pays enough for that."

"I'll think about it. Still, you should have seen my comic book collection."

"You collect comics? Why don't I know this?"

"I never wanted to show them to you when you were little because they're collectors' items and I didn't want you to tear the pages, and then you turned eight and were officially cooler than me and I couldn't stand to be mocked by my daughter."

She brought a hand to her chest in mock horror. "I wouldn't have mocked you." Off his arched eyebrow, she added. "Much."

"My daughter---the superhero. I like that."

She snorted. "It's not exactly something you can advertise at work and it's not like I've done anything with my powers so far except accidentally break some cow mugs and indent a counter at a bowling alley."

"Well, I don't think Warrior Angel was that great when he started either."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Daddy, I appreciate it." She frowned and looked back down at her hands. "But that's not the only thing that's going on here."

"What?"

"I…did Martha tell you about Lex?"

"Lex? All I know is what every gossip column's been printing for months. He got Lana pregnant and they just got married and you, naturally, were the maid of honor."

"Well there is that."

"And Linda Lake had that rumor that Lana was going to refuse the proposal because of Clark."

Chloe huffed a little. "Our lives would be so much less complicated if just the four of us had a relationship." Gabe's jaw dropped open and she hurried to amend her statement. "I mean it's always been this weird trapezoid or something. I love Clark and he's loves Lana and Lex loves her and she can't even make up her mind."

"Good, that sounds much less dirty. The other way gives Daddy a heart attack."

"Sorry."

"Just think before you speak, even if that impulsivity and foot in mouth disease is a Sullivan family trait. Your Aunt Ellen had it spades."

"Daddy, she was mom's sister. That's the worst excuse for your accidental insults ever."

"I gave it a shot. Still, you had to marvel at her ability to say the wrong thing at just the wrong time."

She chuckled. "Like Lois."

"See it's a family thing. I just got it by osmosis. Nice distraction, i caoimhneil /i , but you said something about Lex?"

"He started following my articles, I think, about the Wall of Weird after Van McNulty tried to kill him. Do you remember that?"

Remember that? Lionel had only met with Gabe once in his entire twenty year history at LuthorCorp and that was to threaten him into reigning in his daughter. The mogul had been furious that Chloe's notes on Lex's health had been leaked, and that Van had used it to justify an assassination attempt. Gabe remembered that whole incident vividly. "I do."

"Well, he's been interested in people with abilities ever since. He's set up an illegal lab to experiment on them and he calls it 33.1. He found out what I could do a day after I did, and he had me abducted and experimented on." 

"I'm gonna kill him." Gabe said, standing up. Chloe's hand on his forearm yanked him back down to the sofa.

"I think his security would prevent that."

"I don't care. He hurt you."

She rolled her eyes. "Daddy, you're going to have to take a number in the kicking his ass department behind me, Clark, Bart, Oliver and his friends, and Lois, who has twice the reasons to hate him since he got her kicked out of her apartment. I swear, everyone's all about violence first."

"Okay, so I couldn't take down the Keebler elves with my, ahem, mature physique, I'd still like a shot at beating Lex into a pulp."

"That's the spirit, daddy, but I called dibs on being first in that line."

"What did he do exactly?" He asked, looking her over carefully. "He didn't…he wouldn't…" He trailed off. The thought was too awful to finish.

"No, he didn't do anything like that. They strapped me down and took some blood and tissue samples, cut some off my hand when it shifted, and they implanted a GPS chip. That's all. Clark busted me out after only a few hours, so they didn't get very far, and he helped get the chip out of me. All in all, I think I'm luckier than a lot of people he's caught. I know of two people he's had tortured, and one who almost underwent medical surgery against his will." She gave a small smile to reassure him, but he could tell what a sham it was. Her genuine smiles were so wide you could see all her gums when she gave them.

He squeezed her harder to him. "I'm sorry."

"It's why I didn't call you, besides the obvious. There wasn't anything you could do and I didn't want you to worry."

"I always worry."

"Martha says that to Clark all the time."

"She's right."

She snuggled into him. "I'm sorry about everything."

"That's okay, at least you're safe right now."

"Yeah." She replied, but there's was a hollowness in her tone that worried him.

Later, he told himself. He could pressure her for more later. She's already been so open with him already. Right now he wanted to try cheering her up.

Forcing a grin, he added, "You can make it up to me by explaining just how you and Clark know the fourth richest man in the country on a first name basis, and I just know this has nothing to do with Lois."


	15. Chapter 15

**Why You Have to Go and Make Things So…**

Oliver Queen had faced throngs of Lex's best security detail, been shot by thugs down in Suicide Slums, and fought against the best super soldiers illicit genetics labs could provide. Though one hundred percent normal, he led Justice and was strong enough to hold his own around A.C. (Clark was a lost cause. i No one /i was that strong). He had thought he was a tough guy.

He was wrong.

Because sitting across The Talon booth from Lois Lane was scaring the Hell out of him. She was sipping calmly on her coffee, apparently having yelled herself out on the drive into town, but he knew it was a false calm like at the eye of the storm. Eventually, she'd start yelling again. Beside him, A.C. was sitting equally rigid, a light sheen of sweat on his brow. Well at least Lois scared people with abilities too. Hell, if what Chloe had told him was true, her cousin even made Clark nervous and he'd seen that guy take arrows to the chest.

Sullivan-Lane women were not people to piss off.

Ollie took a sip of his espresso and looked toward the booth across from theirs where Victor and Bart were sitting. The youngest member of Justice had a plate with at least five cinnamon rolls on top of it. He'd already eaten four. Sitting next to him, Victor alternated between shaking his head and picking off of his own sticky bun.

Oliver decided to try making conversation. They'd have to talk sooner or later. "This is some decent coffee, huh?"

Lois set down her cup and glared at him. "Why the Hell are you here?"

Well, so much for easing into round two. Sighing, he answered, "Lionel invited me to Lex's wedding. I thought it might be rude not to attend."

"Because you were so excited about the costume ball last time, Ollie." She snapped.

"I'm sensing that you're a little upset here." 

"Oh, you think? You dump me with no notice, after failing to perform multiple times—"

To his left A.C. snickered and he refrained just barely from hitting him. "It wasn't like that. I just had other things come up. You know how that is. You were a life guard once weren't you?"

"True enough, bro."

Lois crossed her arms over her chest. "Well life guards save lives. That's an excuse. You always had no excuse or had to run off to emergency business meetings. What kind of emergency business meetings take place at 11 PM?"

"Well Tokyo is eighteen hours ahead of us, you know."

"I'm not buying it, any of it. You walk out of Metropolis, make the biggest mistake of your life, and then stroll back into Metropolis all buddy-buddy with my little cuz and Smallville. To top that off, you're dragging A.C. with you. How do you even know him?"

"He's a business associate."

"You often recruit Olympic caliber swimmers for the board room? Come on, Ollie. You are so full of crap."

"Dude, she has you there." A.C. added.

"Not helping, and why aren't you yelling at A.C. more? He left Smallville too."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he pushed himself back against the booth's seat. "A.C. and I knew each other for a week. He didn't run out on me a hundred different times. You did."

"Lois, look, I'm sorry all of that happened. If I could have changed things, I would have loved to go to Monte Carlo with you. I never wanted to leave Metropolis, but things came up and I couldn't stop them. I had to go."

"And that would mean something if you'd given me any information. Damn it, Ollie, I'm a reporter. I need details."

Next to them, Bart and Victor snorted. Ollie tried very hard not to laugh. Despite The Inquisitor's lack of reputation, Lois still considered herself a reporter and she had come close once or twice to exposing him. She had inherited a smidgen of the journalistic talent in her family after all.

"I can't give you details. I'm in town for something business related and very important and Bart, Victor, and A.C. are all working with me on it."

"And you're just going to breeze into town. Carry on with Chloe and Smallville like they're the ones who used to date you and avoid me?"

"I wasn't avoiding you exactly."

"Bro, as the guy you left in a room with her, I'm going to disagree. You've totally been avoiding Lois and now it's not like you're being honest with her."

"Hah!" Lois crowed. "So you are holding back from me."

"Lois," he said, floundering as badly as Clark ever had. "It's complicated."

And suddenly (was there ever any other way with him?) Bart blurred over to their table. Lois blinked, her eyes going wide. "Another teleporter? Are you kidding me?"

"Lois, chill. I'm just the fastest man alive."

She snorted. "That's a misnomer. You don't even need to shave in the mornings."

A.C. and Victor laughed while Bart looked chagrinned. "Shaving's over rated, and I have a boyish charm."

"Doesn't work on me pip squeak, nice try."

"Still," Bart said, glaring at Lois. "I've decided that all this 'it's complicated' stuff is a cop-out. First, Chloe uses it as a reason to break-up with Jimmy, which actually works out pretty good for me, and now Ollie's trying to use it to stay apart from you when he hasn't stopped moping around for the last month. I'm sick of it. Look, here's the deal. Ollie here, he's totally the Gr---" Ollie reached for him trying to wrap his and around Bart's face, but the speedster ducked and blurred away so far he couldn't reach him.

Recovering, Bart blurted out, "He's the Green Arrow."

"I knew it!"

"So much for secret identities, Bart, and what's with showing off powers in public?" Ollie admonished.

"You're not my father, besides, no one's here and everyone in Smallville is deeply stupid."

Lois shrugged. "The kid has a point. I've seen people ignore everything from guys who freeze and collect you to weird superstrong mutant attacks."

"Exactly, Ollie, jeez remove that stick up your ass before you turn into Clark." Bart grumbled and then, turning to Victor, added. "Hey, there's a magazine stand next door. I wanna scope out the newest issue of i Mad /i , and I think these two need time to talk."

Victor nodded and dropped a few bills on the table. "Cool man. A.C., are you coming?"

A.C. paused and looked over at Lois and sighed. "Yeah, I've talked to Lois already today."

Ollie scooted over to let A.C. out and watched as he and the rest of his friends exited out of The Talon. Hell, it ate up time until he had to try to explain to Lois. Turning back in his seat, he picked up his coffee and took another long sip. "So, yeah, about that."

"You're the Green Arrow?"

It would be stupid to argue that point now and Ollie tried to remain smooth at all times. "I am."

"I asked you point blank and you lied to me." She frowned, another thought coming to her. "If you were in the alley that night, then who had the leather fetish for then? Who can move that fast and just chuck people thirty feet?"

"Bart moves that fast."

"The ersatz Green Arrow was taller than me. Bart's shorter than Chloe."

"He's not quite that small."

"He's little enough. The only people who knew about the G.A. set-up were me, you, Olsen, and Clark. That's it. So either there was a massive coincidence and he did show up or Clark was covering."

He whistled. "There are some journalistic instincts behind those hazel eyes."

"Keep pushing, Ollie." She drummed her fingers on her table, nails clacking against its polished surface. "So Clark just disappears instantly, you're a leather clad vigilante, and Chloe looks sometimes like she's a freaking ice statue. What have I been missing?"

"Why do you girls focus on the green leather so much?"

"You have a cod piece, Ollie, it stands out."

"It's functional."

"I'll bet." She added, smirking. Then she narrowed her eyes again. "I'm going to need a real explanation. Why pull the neo-Robin Hood stunt to begin with, and why the Hell does everyone I know have superpowers?"

"You know, I really don't feel comfortable talking to you about this."

"Because I work for The Inquisitor. Chloe works for the Planet and she knows, doesn't she?"

"Chloe promised Clark she'd never tell anything and she's been his professional secret keeper for a while. Besides, she doesn't have quite enough proof, even now, to take to the Planet, but The Inquisitor doesn't need evidence. You could jeopardize everything I'm doing."

"You stole from people and acted as a terrorist against various labs in the city. It's more of that left wing, radical extremist bullshit."

"Spoken like a true army brat. I stole objects that the rich in Metropolis had purchased off of the black market. It was never theirs and if selling a stolen Ming vase provided me with extra money to add to my hospice donations, then I didn't see a problem in that."

"Dad would see a lot problems in that."

"Well I don't live my life for the stars and stripes."

She huffed a little. "You're a liar."

"Yeah, I am, but I wasn't going to give you an inside scoop for the tabloids. If you knew I was the Green Arrow, there's no way you wouldn't have published it." He leaned in closer to her. "Are you going to publish it now?"

"No, who do you think I am? I wouldn't have published anything to get you in trouble."

"Right." He scoffed.

"Exactly right. I dropped that whole story about Duncan because it affected you too personally, and I knew it wouldn't have been right to put his mother through all of that. I was desperate for the Green Arrow scoop, but if it had been a choice between you possibly going to jail and getting the exclusive, Ollie, I would have chosen you."

"Well Duncan's drama is a lot different from exposing the most famous vigilante in Metropolis. I couldn't risk it. Of course, now you have enough to bury me, my team, Chloe and Clark."

"I'm not going to say it's not tempting, because that would be a lie, and if Chloe's been Clark's secret keeper for a while, I bet she's at least been tempted to rat him out too." She kept clicking her nails against the table and Ollie shook his head. Lois had never been good at keeping still, too many nervous habits. "But, Ollie, I wouldn't betray you like that."

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you." He said stiffly.

"I feel convinced now."

"Well it's hard to trust you. You went one on one with the Green Arrow, when I was trying to save your life by the way, and I suddenly became the Unabomber."

"But I didn't know it was you! Besides, I've been working at The Inquisitor for months now. I'm learning about that whole ethics part of journalism. It's taking some time, but I don't want to ruin people's lives, unless it's Lex's."

"That the spirit." He said dryly, draining his cup.

"So you mentioned something about a team." Lois's left hand snaked toward her purse before she could stop it and Oliver could tell she was desperate to drag out her steno pad. Once a reporter…

To her credit, she brought her hand back and started pulling apart a napkin instead. At least Lois was trying.

"Lois, if I'm going to be honest with you, that makes you an accessory. You understand that, right? There are things I'm involved with that aren't exactly legal but they do help people, and they have to be done. But if you knew about them and didn't report them…"

She nodded. "The military has rules like that. Honor code stuff. It's not enough i not /i to do it, you have to report other people committing the crimes. I don't care. I need to know." Her eyes took on that now familiar manic gleam she had on the trail of a story. Oliver'd seen Chloe sport it as well and he now recognized the look as the rabid curiosity of the Sullivan-Lane gene pool surfacing.

Ollie ran a hand through his over gelled hair. "You want to be in on this then. No running to your editor and not a word to the General."

"Chloe's in on it, isn't she? You think I'm just going to leave my little cousin alone to run around with you bozos?"

"Hey! And you do know that your cousin is twenty years old and capable of taking care of herself. Considering her ability, I'd bet she's more than capable of taking care of herself."

"Ollie, if she's in this I want in. I promised Aunt Moira I'd take care of her and I intend to do that."

He knew the feeling. He'd never promised his parents anything out loud before they died. In fact, he fought with them before they'd left, but he knew what it was to feel indebted to a family member who was no longer around, to be loyal to blood. He might still not trust her fledgling journalistic ethics, but he did trust her love for her cousin.

Taking a deep breath, he added. "Alright then, but no turning back."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a coward."

No, that was definitely not a word one could use to describe Lois Lane. "Obviously." He said, sparing her one of his trademark smirks. "Here's the basics. Each of the four of us here have our own skills. I'm normal but no one can touch me in archery."

"Geena Davis eat your heart out," Lois muttered.

"Bart, as you can see or not quite see, is very fast."

"A.C. swims well." Lois said.

Oliver whistled. "You put that one together on your own."

She nodded. "He visited once before, remember. He saved me from drowning and was really fast in the water. I didn't think much of him beating me at every race, but that's what he does, isn't it?"

"Yeah, something like that. Victor---"

"He's a robot."

"Cyborg, actually, and will you let me tell the damn story."

She smirked back at him. "It looks like I know more than you thought I did, Ollie. Lana mentioned something about him during our girls' days after she'd met him." She squinted, trying to collect her thoughts. "He has a girlfriend doesn't he?"

"Had. It didn't end well. He's still bummed about it."

"There's seems to be a club."

"A.C.'s still pretty hung up on you."

"Is he the only one?" She asked, leaning over the table and giving him a full view of all her assets.

God had he missed her. "No, he's not."

"Thought not." She said, running one manicured finger down his wrist. "So do you guys go around robbing from the rich and giving to the poor all the time?"

"Mostly we're working on taking Lex and his labs dedicated to illegal human experimentation down."

"That bastard. I i knew /i he had skeletons in his closet."

"Oh, we're talking deluxe skeletons. The Ice Man of skeletons here." Oliver conceded.

Lois's eyes brightened. "I definitely want in now. Anyone who tries taking down Lex is the good guy in my book."

"Thanks for the approval."

"And Clark's part of your band of merry men, too?"

"Totally the Friar Tuck." He riposted before clarifying. "No, I asked Clark and he said he had business here to finish that he couldn't just leave."

"Chloe too, then?"

"We had a mission a few days before we didn't go to Monte Carlo, and they both helped out."

"I bet Chloe was very helpful, considering all she can do."

He frowned. "That's the weird thing. She couldn't do any of that last month. This---whatever it is---is new."

"Meteor mutants do pop up all the time in this town. I'm betting that's what Clark is too." She clenched her right hand into a fist. "Damn it. I bet he dragged her on something stupid and got her exposed to those damn things."

"I doubt that it's Clark's fault," Ollie defended before asking, "Meteor mutants?"

"The rocks here are weird and give people more powers than in an X-men comic." Lois said dismissively.

"Well that would explain where all the people with abilities came from in his local labs and why Lex is melting down and purifying meteor ore like it were gold."

"Probably." She said. "So, what's the next move? I wanted to go home and check on Chloe and Uncle Gabe first. Besides, I'm kind of tired and Smallville's bed is calling."

"There's a mental image I never needed." He added, shaking his head. He stood up and threw his own assortment of bills down onto the table top. Extending his arm for her to take, he said, "First we need to collect the boys, and I need to double check Bart. The kid used to have a bad case of the sticky fingers."

"No kidding. I first met him helping Clark move all my stuff."

"Well, they would be the fastest moving service available anywhere."

"I still want my apartment back."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm not desperate or anything, but it pisses me off that Uncle Fester just threw me out on my ass. I like staying at the farm, but I miss my queen bed already."

"I have a Queen bed for you." Ollie whispered into her ear. There were some double entendres a man just couldn't resist.

Lois pushed him over a few steps, re-establishing the boundaries between them. "You'll have to do better than that, Ollie. You're still towards the top of my shit list and that's not a place you wanna be."

"Near the top? Who's number one."

"Lex," She answered, smiling sweetly up at him, "But you are a very close second." With that, she stepped out of The Talon, letting the door slam in front of him.


	16. Chapter 16

**The World According to Lois Lane**

"You know, cuz," Lois said, plopping down beside Chloe at the Kents' kitchen table. "I think you need to try something different."

Chloe glowered over her stack of now stale waffles. Her father had been cooking them for everyone for the last few mornings. She figured it must be a nice break for Martha, who had to cook the breakfasts normally even during her rare breaks from the senate. The boys seemed to like them well enough too. Actually, Ollie still had his lease on the Metropolis penthouse and the Justice Bros spend their nights in the city and came over to the farm around mid-morning, just for the waffles it seemed. Well, all the Bros except for Bart that is. He was always around. Always at the Kent farm at seven AM, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to start schmoozing with her.

After breakfasts, the boys and Lois went out to the field nearest the barn to…well, do something. Chloe wasn't sure what. She was far too busy with more important things, like trying to determine where the Hell the local site of the 33.1 facilities could be now that the Ridge Facility had been leveled.

She'd spent the last three days hunched over her lap top hacking into every database she knew and trying to thwart the intricate security that LuthorCorp had established. Victor had been helping her as well, but the two of them hadn't been able to even dent the new measures. Lex had upped his game since the last time Justice had hacked his system.

It was frustrating.

"Did you hear me?" Lois asked, closing Chloe's screen over her keyboard.

Chloe moved her fingers back just in time to avoid being smooshed, not that Lois would ever hurt her, it's just that impulsivity led to bruised fingers. She reached for the latch to open her screen back up and huffed when Lois kept her hands firmly planted on top of her computer, blocking her.

She narrowed her eyes at her cousin. "Lois, I'm trying to work here."

"You've been working for three days."

"Yes, well that would be how tracking down the bad guys works. It involves a lot of research and very little action."

Lois snorted. "Yeah, right."

"You know that even the General has officers that do nothing but advise him on strategy right, Lo?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Yes I know that, but we don't even need to track down the bald and the not-so-beautiful. He's in Paris, big whoop. Hell, just send that Bart kid over to the fanciest, most expensive, most look-at-me hotel by the Seine and you'll have him cornered."

"We're not arranging a hit here."

"Too bad."

"Besides, where Lex is isn't nearly as important as where his labs are, and so far they're better hidden than a pharaoh's tomb."

"Go grave robbers go." Lois shrugged. "At least there probably isn't a curse on the labs."

"Cute, Lo, real cute." She said, opening back up her lap top. "Look, right now we have this weird and too good to be true break in the action while Lex is busy, um…"

"Traumatizing Luthor, Jr. with some slap and tickle."

"Lois," Chloe said, shaking her head. "You know I love you, right?"

"Duh."

"But do you ever stop and think about what you're going to say before it comes out of your mouth?"

She shrugged again and started picking at Chloe's waffles, helping herself to the cherry preserves on top. "I tried it when I started dating Oliver. It didn't take."

"Just checking. Anyway, right now Lana is 'distracting' Lex---"

"Boy I'll say."

Chloe closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. Most days she couldn't understand why Clark found Lois so annoying. After seventy-two hours of dead end research, she was beginning to understand. "…and we have this time where he isn't a hundred percent on his guard to actually get the important information out of LuthorCorp."

"Which you haven't done."

"It's a work in progress." Chloe grumped. "Besides, I never saw you complaining about the research I do when you wanted dirt on Lex for his campaign or when you needed someone to analyze the Green Arrow's---"

"Ollie's"

"Okay, fine, Ollie's family heirloom."

Lois ripped off a corner of Chloe's waffle and stuck it in her mouth. "Lot of good it did me too. You so were holding out on me."

"Maybe a little but it's not like Clark told me what coat of arms the scraped one on the ring matched either. I didn't come up with 'four' until your whole rendezvous with the G.A."

Lois looked like she was tempted to spit out her waffle bite right there on the table. "Don't remind me. I can almost forgive Ollie for lying to me, but he let me kiss Clark."

"I don't think he let you do anything." Chloe said, a hardness creeping into her tone.

"Ooh, that's jealousy of me and Smallville."

"Not exactly."

"Oh it definitely is, which is beyond stupid, by the way. I didn't even know it was him and Clark's the last person on this planet I'd want to kiss."

"Funny stock epithet there, Lo." Chloe mumbled under her breath.

"Huh?"

Chloe decided to let the literary reference go over Lois's head. "Never mind. I'm not jealous."

"Uh-huh." Lois said, putting another hunk of waffle in her mouth. "You know, I thought I had Lana pegged for all that passive-aggressive bull shit she pulls, but you had me fooled."

Chloe stopped typing and glared back at her. "Excuse me? When have I ever been anything other than aggressive-aggressive?"

"Right now."

"How do you figure?"

"You've got Smallville and the short stuff trailing you around like puppies all over the farm and instead of actually talking to them or even acknowledging that they exist, you're holed up here."

"Doing research. Did I not just explain to you how important this is?"

"Still, you've been a bad, bad Chloe."

"Gee, I'm sorry, maybe you can get back to me when I'm not under heaping amounts of stress. Does 2012 work for you?"

"And now the sarcasm turns mean. Come on, Chlo, the whole meteor-sponsored power aside, when is it i not /i a stressful time in this town? There's always a meteor shower, an evil tycoon lurking around, or some evil---and let me stress the evil part---meteor freak making trouble. This is just more of the same. Bigger stage, same production."

Chloe ignored the meteor freak comment. It was her term after all and Lois had been really supportive since her impromptu coming out party. It wasn't Lois's fault she was so blunt. It was, as her father had pointed out, genetic. "Okay, so maybe I'm not that stressed, although you be abducted and sliced into and tell me how happy go lucky you are."

Lois cracked her knuckles. "Why can't we just send Bart for the quick and dirty over in Paris again?"

"Because it's wrong." Chloe said, trying desperately to shove memories of her dream back down into her subconscious. Lois's cold comment should have shocked her, but it actually made her feel better in a strange way. Apparently the uncompromising nature and proclivity toward bloodlust was also a family trait and not a mutant one.

"Come on. The army has assassins for a reason. Some days you just need to send one guy into that stupid little cave or hidey hole or five star resort and you know…"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I know you aren't serious."

"He touches you again and I will be."

"Thanks. That's chilling yet comforting at the same time."

"No need to thank me. If you would just make up your damn mind already, I'd be happy."

Chloe furrowed her brow. "Make up my mind?"

"I'd say about which boy but I'm pretty intuitive and can see where this is headed."

She arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're intuitive now?"

"Oh, I was always intuitive, makes for a good reporter, you know."

"Uh-huh."

"Anyway," Lois said, scraping off the last of the cherry preserves from the plate, "You need to go ahead and actually pay attention to the boys, especially Smallville, not that I'm not enjoying the irony of it what with all the crap he put you through in middle and high school, but I hate the moping. I think his moping over you is more annoying than his moping over Lana and I didn't even think that was possible."

Chloe pushed aside the warm feelings rising in her stomach. It was not a good thing to make Clark obsess like that and it was even more twisted to be proud that she had ranked higher on the mope scale than Lana. It wasn't like it was a competition. "He's moping over me?"

"See and if you left the table or talked to anyone for more than five seconds besides R2D2---"

"Victor."

"Yeah, him." Lois agreed. "Then you'd know it. God," She added, shaking her head, her ponytail bouncing off her shoulders when she did it. "I had no idea boys could be such drama queens. Ollie keeps staring at me like I was a member of NSYNC and he was a thirteen year old girl, Victor is all subdued because of Catherine, and Smallville and the small fry spend their time either posturing or obsessing about you. The entire group…what do they call themselves again?"

"Um, we don't officially have a name. Ollie wanted something with the word 'Justice' in it and Bart and Clark have been calling it the Justice Bros because of A.C.'s habit of using that word non-stop."

"Fat chance that name'll stick." Lois huffed. "I mean, if you and I are in on this puppy I am not going to stand for a guy-centric name."

"That's what I said."

"Great minds." Lois said and then waved her hand dismissively. "We'll think of something else later. The important thing is getting you out of this kitchen and into the dating game."

"Dating game?"

"Chlo, your opportunities aren't going to get any better than this, not that I'd ever date Smallville or the pipsqueak."

"Bart."

"Whatever." Lois said. "But, look, I think we can both agree that you have limited dating options---and before you get upset---you always had limited dating options because, honestly, we're two cool chicks and there aren't a lot of guys that can keep up with the whole snarky, sexy Lane-Sullivan package."

"Sullivan-Lane sounds better."

"Lane-Sullivan." Lois insisted. "Let's face it, there weren't any yahoos in high school that came close to deserving you, even if that Pete kid tried, and you were always better than Jimmy "I Never Call Girls Back" Olsen."

Chloe blushed. It hadn't been Jimmy's fault exactly. It had been the last day of the internship when they'd slept together, and she'd only done it as some stupid way to prove to herself that she was over Clark. It had been a huge, awkward mistake and she'd left his apartment right after without even a good-bye. She couldn't have made it any clearer that she didn't want him to call her again if she'd criticized his technique. Besides, he'd improved a lot since she'd first met him, and he got bonus points for inventive uses of whipped cream.

"That's what you say, Lois. I think if you look in the mirror you'll see the big differences between me and you. The stupid Sullivan side is apparently filled with midgets."

"Long legs are not everything." Lois said, gesturing toward Chloe's chest. "And you can't help it that Clark's retarded and had a seventeen year stint where he only liked girls with long dark hair and Anime eyes."

"Lana's my friend."

"She's my friend too, even if she didn't invite me to her wedding." Lois sniffed.

"Well it's expensive to even make the invites and she knew that you'd be in Geneva anyway."

"Still, I wanted to be asked. I'm the one that encouraged her to date the Prince of Darkness in the first place."

"That was not one of your better judgment calls."

"How was I supposed to know he was i worse /i than everyone thought he was?"

"Point." Chloe said, sighing. "Look, this girl talk has been great and I'm glad for the support and everything, but it's not helping me find more 33.1 sites."

"Nice try. Chlo, listen," Lois said, picking nervously at her cuticles. "I'm not personally a huge fan of Smallville's and I still don't see the attraction even if he can bend steel and outrace the small fry."

"Bart's actually faster."

"Nice to know," Lois said, smirking. "However, I know how you really feel about him. I also know that this is the best shot you've got."

"Excuse me?"

"I like A.C., not as much I don't think as Ollie, because we don't know each other nearly as well and didn't date a fraction as long, but let's be honest, there are a lot of girls who wouldn't date somebody who's half guppy."

"Atlantean."

"You know what I mean. And you see how miserable Victor is over Catherine and what a train wreck it was for Clark to date Lana." Lois frowned. "Lana doesn't know, does she?"

"She's been snooping through his stuff lately and giving me cryptic comments but she doesn't know everything about him. That couldn't be possible."

Her cousin's frown deepened. "The rest of the boys and I have a feeling that we've been getting an abridged story as far as Clark's concerned."

"You expect me to fall for such an obvious ploy? Come on, Lo, you're getting better as an interviewer, but you are not that good." She sighed. "Let's just give him meteor mutant status and leave it at that."

"You can tell me. Come on, we're family."

"Sworn to secrecy."

"Does it have to do with why he was all naked in a field and big with the amnesia when I first met him?"

Chloe mimed locking her lips and throwing away and invisible key. "Secret keeper. You're just going to have to go with the party line."

"Fair enough." Lois said but her frown remained firmly in place. Chloe'd expect nothing less. Even if Lois was new to the reporting game, she had good instincts and an insatiable curiosity. But she'd back down for now for Chloe's sake. "But you see where I'm going with this."

"That, in general, the superpowered and the more mundane individuals don't make for good couples material."

"Not always. I wouldn't care, and I doubt you ever cared that Clark had powers while you were normal."

"Not so much."

"But any guy you meet who's not from Smallville or one of the Bros is somebody you're probably going to have to lie to for the rest of your life or end up doing the big painful reveal again. I'm not saying you have to date Clark because he has a secret and you have a secret and that's something you have in common. I'm just saying he gets all of it. Bart, too, I guess."

"No, it's a fair point. I don't intend on advertising my abilities to anyone else."

"You don't want to end up like Alicia."

"Thoughts of becoming the town pariah had crossed my mind."

"Is that why you didn't tell me? Because I was so harsh to Alicia?"

"I didn't tell you because I was ashamed. I didn't think you'd reject me, but I didn't know."

Lois snorted as she stood up to clear the table. "You're the dumbest smart person I know."

"Clark's been telling me a variation of that or 'I told you so,' since I talked with dad."

"'Great minds' does not apply here because Smallville and I will never have anything in common. Double yuck."

Chloe rolled her eyes. If they still would rather bicker back and forth like four year olds, well, even Martha didn't have the power to stop that. "So, I need to face my speedsters?"

"Oh most definitely," Lois said, rinsing off the plate.

"Can I make it a bit more fun?"

Lois turned around and smirked at her cousin. "What did you have in mind?"


	17. Chapter 17

**To the Victor Goes the Spoils**

The girls found Victor up in Clark's bedroom, typing furiously on Clark's computer and trying to work his own magic to hack into LuthorCorp. He was mumbling under his breath to himself and it sounded to Chloe like he was exercising his extensive vocabulary. She was impressed. There were old timers in the bull pen who didn't know that many curses.

"Victor?"

He looked up from the screen and shook his head. "Sorry, Chloe, I've got nothing. You?"

"No luck all morning, either. If nothing pans out today I was thinking we could try going through some of the databases Oliver has access to, anything that might cover insider business news. Presumably, Lex has got to have construction contracts or unusual delivery records. If we can get at who's been working for and supplying him, we might be able to find the sites that way."

He nodded. "Sounds good to me. We certainly aren't getting anywhere trying to break through Lex's firewalls. I've tried every trick I've ever learned. I don't know who's been advising him on computer security since last time, but they're good."

"You think he might have recruited some of the masterminds from the Machina Project? They'd be able to rig something that they knew you couldn't get through."

"But they don't know what Oliver upgraded me with."

"You think Lex has been poaching Ollie's staff?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Chloe nodded. "We'll look through Ollie's staff records too then. See if any of his top tech guys have had unusual windfalls or if they are moonlighting."

"That's a good angle." Victor conceded and then he turned his attention to Lois and frowned. "Hey Lois, what's up?"

Chloe could understand Victor's confusion. Lois knew about as much as operating the average lap top as Clark knew about using the A.I. at the Fortress, probably even less. "Victor, we actually had something else to discuss that didn't require any computer skills what so ever."

"Need someone to open but not shatter a peanut butter jar."

"Clark's sorry about that."

Victor shrugged. "Ollie paid for the shirt. Besides, I'm sure a quick washing machine spin will help."

"Anyway," Lois interjected. "We needed an unbiased third party."

He frowned. "What do you need a third party for?"

"I've had Ollie and A.C. both sniffing after me since they got to town and you've seen how gone Bart and Smallville are over Chloe."

"I've noticed."

"Well, I decided that I had to be fair to my potential suitors." Chloe added.

"Would-be stalkers." Lois supplied.

"They're not stalkers."

"Bart's here every morning by eight. We can't keep him in Metropolis. You're heading into restraining territory here, Watchtower."

"Very funny." Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I figured the fairest way to chose between the two of them was a contest."

"So this would be what? i The Bachelor /i , the Justice Bros addition."

"Does Ollie or A.C. know about that nickname?"

"Oliver, no. A.C. does though. He thinks it's, and I quote, 'bodacious.' I don't think he figured out that the joke was on him."

"We are not calling ourselves that." Lois snapped. "Think of something a little less sexist."

"Working on it, but it has to have---"

"'Justice' in the title. Yeah, we know." Lois said.

Chloe sighed and continued on. "Okay, so it's not like that, exactly, and it wasn't technically even my idea. Bart came up with that out-wooing---his words not mine----plan all on his own."

"Like listening to Bart's plans was ever a good idea." Victor added.

"Still, it would be a lot more interesting to play it this way, than to have a pissing contest. Those are so boring." Lois said. "So, Tin Man, do you wanna be the ref or what?"

Chloe looked toward the ceiling and shook her head. Tact and Lois Lane had never even met. "Please, Victor, you're the only one not actively seeking to date a Sullivan-Lane---"

"Lane-Sullivan." Lois corrected.

"Fine, a Lane-Sullivan girl."

"Only because of my broken heart and, yes, Lois before you bludgeon us to death with L. Frank Baum references I get the irony."

"Huh?"

Chloe smirked at the subtle literary reference to that land somewhere over the rainbow. Victor was smart and sarcastic and knew his way around cyberspace. If things were different…

"I'm sorry about Catherine. She's an idiot."

Victor sighed and ran a hand over his hair. "She tried. It just didn't work." He gave her a pained smile. "I appreciate the sentiments, Watchtower."

"No problem. So, since you currently aren't in the market for, as Lois puts it, sexy and snarky, will you help us out?"

"I'd love to." He paused. "So, are there events? Something with blindfolds?"

"Don't I wish." Lois mumbled.

Chloe shrugged. "I don't design obstacle courses. Personally, I'm curious to see what those super-geniuses come up with."

"Oh boy."

Day One

"Come on, Chloe, it's a bright shiny morning and time to start the public humiliation."

"We aren't humiliating the boys, Lo, we're just letting nature run its course." Chloe replied as her cousin pushed her down the stairs and out to the pasture by the barn. She'd gotten up at five and done five hours of research using Ollie's business records. So far, she hadn't found any scientists on his payroll with dubious "bonuses," but Queen Industries was just behind LuthorCorp and Wayne Industries as one of the largest employers in America. There were subsidiaries on top of subsidiaries. It could take her days, even with Victor's help, to find the red flags she was looking for. Even then, it was a long shot, but she felt that it might pay off. If they'd been able to firewall Victor, someone from Ollie's camp had to have defected.

So her reward for five hours of thorough and painstaking research was having Lois show her exactly what the boys and she did all day while Chloe and Victor researched. She assumed Ollie spent some of his time making calls and tracking down leads via whatever corporate connections (and perhaps more underhanded ones) he had. How the other three boys and Lois spent their time was a complete mystery to her.

"I still don't see why I have to come out to a stupid field."

"It's not a stupid field." Lois complained. "It's all about the training."

Chloe arched an eyebrow. "Training? You do know that these guys are the best at what they do. I bet Oliver hasn't put down a bow and arrow since he was nine, and the rest of them, well, it comes naturally."

"The General would say that any good soldier needs to keep his skills sharp. I practice my hand-to-hand skills every day to stay 3rd degree black belt ready."

"Is there board breaking?"

"Pfft. I am so up to some cinder blocks by now. Just one or two, but I am above just wood."

"Well that explains that." Chloe said, thinking of all the times Lois had just up and whapped Clark. Apparently, imitating the Karate Kid prepared someone to hit a Kryptonian and not shatter every bone in their hand. God, her cousin really was lucky.

"What?"

"I just realized that the black belt practice was how you got away with punching Clark all these years. He's, um, pretty durable."

"Whatever. Just because he's a little stronger---"

"I did tell you about the diamond making bit, right?"

"Yeah. Are you sure you don't want to just outright defect to the Oompa-Loompa and skip the contest? That jerk makes diamonds and he gets you a stupid thesaurus for your birthday. I did tell you my 'you're too good for them' theory, right?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "He didn't mean to exclude me from the sparkly goodness. He just didn't think."

Lois snorted. "Story of his life."

"I don't mind, not really." Chloe defended.

"Uh-huh. You save his ungrateful ass bunches of times and he gives Lana the pretties."

"They were dating."

"As A.C. would say, Smallville's a tool."

Chloe smirked up at her cousin. "You kissed that tool, remember?"

"Don't remind me." Lois said, making a face. Chloe got the image of Lucy Van Pelt spitting after being kissed by Snoopy and screaming, "Ick, dog germs." She laughed. Chloe strongly suspected that even if Lois knew everything her first reaction would always be "Ick, Clark germs," and not "Ick, alien germs." There was something endearing in that.

"So," Chloe said, coming to a stop at one of the posts surrounding the field. "What did you want to show me again?"

Lois swiped at her mouth one more time, as if it could erase the fact she'd once kissed Clark. Turning to the field, she growled. "Great, just great. Lazy bastards. Guys! Where are you?"

Chloe laughed again. It figured. Lois was a great person and by far her favorite cousin (not that that was much of a contest since Lucy was consummate con artist), but she had this nasty habit of inviting herself into other people's lives and business. It appeared that even though Ollie had technically offered her an invitation into the Bros, she'd decided to commandeer it. The General would be so proud.

After a few minutes, the boys trailed out from behind a stack of hay bales. Bart was actually yawning, while the rest looked refreshed. Victor walked over to her first and asked. "So, are you announcing the rules or should I?"

"Lois? What do you think?"

"You're the emcee, C3PO."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't take it personally, Victor. She gives everyone nicknames."

"I don't. At least I'm not named after a town or a mythical creature enslaved to work in a chocolate factory."

"I don't think the Oompa-Loompas were slaves."

"Oh ye of little knowledge. It was totally imperialism all the way."

"Well, you just have a way of ruining all the fairy tales, don't you?"

"Oh, you should hear about the real Tin Man. If you think being raised from the dead is bad, wait until an evil witch enchants your axe so it starts chopping limbs."

"Why do I feel that your childhood had more in it than just football?"

"My mom was a lit professor at Met U. She specialized in folk lore and modern fairy tales. Grimm's at its best, Chloe."

"You had a little sister, right? Don't tell me she got the unabridged stuff."

"Too little. She got the Disney versions."

"That makes me feel better."

"And I thought you were the resident cynic."

"But with a soft and gooey center. So, before it all degrades into baboon Olympics, did you get anything this morning?" 

"Nothing. I've been working through Ollie's most prominent holdings in Metropolis and it's all a bust."

"Damn, this is better than Lex's usual style. You think Sr. is in on this?"

"Ahem." Lois coughed. "We can do the boring spreadsheet stuff in an hour. We won't beat the evil empire any faster if we spare some time for some training, you know?"

"Fine, Lois." Chloe said, grinning at the way Ollie was deferring to her. Chloe'd never known Ollie to be delicate about anything. He was clearly trying to win back some of Lois's favor by letting her run whatever she figured constituted drills. Or maybe he was just as busy as she and Victor and had decided the best way to deal with Lois was to let her have her way on the small stuff.

He was learning.

Chloe was moderately impressed with the way Lois had been training her man. It had taken her until college to get Clark to actually listen to her advice, and he still blurred off on her more often than not.

Victor turned his attention away from her and out toward the rest of the Bros. "Okay, so the girls and I were talking yesterday."

"Hey! How come you get to have secret meetings with Chloelicious, and I don't?" Bart pouted.

"It wasn't like that." Victor said through clenched teeth. Chloe was beginning to get the over-excited puppy vibe Lois had been talking about. "As I was saying Chloe, Lois, and I got to talking and we decided that while the girls could choose right now who they wanted to date, there isn't much fun in that."

Oliver frowned. "Since when did you get a say in any of this."

"I'm the impartial third party. Officially, I don't care whether Lois dates you or A.C. or whether Chloe chooses Clark or Bart."

"So that would make you the judge, then?" Clark asked.

"Pretty much. You and Bart are the supergeniuses who came up with contest idea to begin with. I'm just helping it play out."

Clark glared down at Bart. "Thanks buddy."

"Well it seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe it was all the furniture moving stress."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Anyway, do whatever you want to impress the ladies, and don't do anything underhanded to sabotage each other. We're not certain amoral bald billionaires I could name."

"So no hiring of hypno-hos." Chloe chirped, smiling sweetly back at Clark.

"He was behind that? Oh that was just humiliating." The rest of the boys laughed; Bart was doubled over from chuckling.

"Any questions?" Victor asked. Earnest as always, Clark stuck up his hand like he was in Mr. Murtry's history classroom. "Yeah?"

"How long do we get?"

"Puh-leaze," Bart started. "It shouldn't take that long, not when you're the---"

"Speed shouldn't matter," Chloe said.

"Yeah," Lois smirked. "Being the fastest men alive is not something you two want to be bragging about, right?" Clark blushed and Bart blinked, indicating that the insult had gone just a little over his head.

"Whatever." The younger speedster replied.

Victor continued. "Obviously, this delightful display of testosterone and idiocy gets suspended the minute we locate the local 33.1 sites or Lex pulls something. Considering Uncle Fester is still in Europe for the next six days, I think we might actually have a breather."

"Yeah, because getting complacent is something we need to be doing right now." Clark grumbled.

"It's not like we're taking a break." Chloe defended. "Trust me. I want Lex more than any of you do. Victor and I have been working all morning to narrow down leads, and we're going to keep doing it."

"It doesn't mean we can't have a little fun in the middle of research mode." Lois added. "So," she said, putting her hands on her hips. Chloe copied her posture. "Are you boys game."

"Bros," A.C. said, "This is everything I dreamed of and more."

The opening bell of the competition didn't engender a stampede or anything. More or less, it planted the idea of outdoing one another in the boys' heads. As always with Justice, there were things to be done, and a schedule to keep. In this case, the boys and Lois were going through the practice they'd been participating in for the last three days.

Trying to get a lay of the land, Chloe sat watching from the hay bales. While there was a much perforated target made out of straw towards the far edge of the field, Ollie wasn't actively engaged in archery. Instead, he was trading blows with her cousin. The two of them circled each other gracefully, the bouts of going round punctuated by intermittent attacks. Chloe could see the difference in her cousin's and Ollie's styles. Whereas Lois had been trained in a specific martial art (Chloe could never remember which one. She was pretty sure it was karate, but she wasn't an expert on these things.), Oliver was much more of a street fighter. For every artful and controlled kick her cousin offered, Oliver retaliated with a fast and brutal punch. Well, it would have been brutal if they were fighting all out instead of sparring.

Towards the middle of the field, A.C. and Victor were engaged in their own game of HORSE. Of all the Bros, she knew A.C. the least well. She hadn't known Victor that well either, but spending three days trading codes and grousing over a locked database was a bonding experience. What she did know about A.C. was still fairly sketchy. He claimed that since his first visit to Smallville he'd learned that his mother was from Atlantis. You know, the real, hand-to-God, ancient civilization that sunk below the sea. Chloe'd heard the parable before. She wasn't the curator of the Wall of Weird for nothing. However, she's always assumed that Plato had used the city as an allegory. She'd never imagined that it was real or that anyone still lived there.

It turned out that in addition to being an incredibly fast swimmer, A.C. had other abilities. He could communicate with sea life, which would come in handy when Chloe needed to pick just the right lobster for dinner (after she won the lottery, of course, and could afford lobster), and he was very strong. Not Clark strong, but stronger than humans. Chloe figured it had something to do with being able to resist the crushing pressure that typified the ocean's depths. She watched as A.C. and Victor crushed rocks of various sizes and eventually engaged in a spot of sparring of their own.

The final two boys materialized in front of her. Bart a millisecond before Clark. "Hah! Beat you, Stretch."

Chloe wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Why would you two ever race? Isn't it sort of a foregone conclusion that you're going to win, Bart?"

"Mighty Mouse keeps hoping for a better outcome. He can't handle being a slow poke." Bart added, smiling widely at her. If he were a peacock, his tail feathers would have been fanned out in full NBC glory.

Panting, Clark was forced to take a deep breath before he spoke. Now that was interesting. He must have been exerting himself quite a bit to get winded, must have really wanted to win. "I could beat you."

Bart turned to him and for a moment Chloe thought he'd go so far as to stick out his tongue. "No you couldn't."

She rolled her eyes. "Relax boys. I'm not going to choose one of you over the other based on the outcome of a foot race. Give me a little credit."

"Oh, I knew that." Clark said.

Right. "However, I was wondering if I could get in on the action."

"You aren't a speedster, Chloerita."

"Obviously." She said, shaking her head and pointing to where her cousin had just kicked Ollie in the abdomen. "I meant sparring action."

Clark gaped at her like she'd just suggested that she try jumping off the roof of the Daily Planet. Of course, now that she thought about it, with her current set of "skills" that metaphor fell flat. "I don't know, Chlo."

"Look, Lois is doing it and she doesn't even have abilities."

"Yeah, and she's been trained in martial arts since she was little. I don't think I've ever seen you throw a punch."

"Hey!" Bart chimed in. "You know, I think you could be onto something, but instead of sparring with us, you and Lois should go at it, preferably in a big pit of mud."

She narrowed her eyes. "That's not winning me over, Bart."

He shrugged. "Sorry but it was too good to ignore and I'm only human."

Clark flinched slightly at the euphemism but continued on with his previous train of thought. "I don't know, Chlo. I don't want to hurt you."

"Besides, I'm not a punch throwing guy. I tend to run away before the bodily contact can be made or punch before someone sees me."

"That's a little cowardly." She countered.

"I work with what nature gave me.' He quipped. "I mean, yeah, Ollie's been teaching me some basic stuff, but I'm a lover and not a fighter, Chloelicious." He waggled his eyebrows at her to convey his point.

"So I see." She hopped up from the bales of hay and shrugged. "Well if you two won't do it, I bet I can talk Victor into it." She looked back at Clark and gave him her version of the Cheshire Cat grin. It worked.

"No, you don't need to do that."

Wow. If Lex ever figured out how to manipulate the rampant jealousy between the Bros, he'd win in no time flat. She put her hands on her hips. "I don't, do I?"

"Nope, I totally wanna see you fight Stretch now."

"You don't want in?"

"I am my speed. That's the package deal and you can't move that fast." He shrugged. "It's kind of pointless and I already won the race. I'd like to see you kick Clark's ass though."

"Hey! We're friends. We're supposed to be together in the united guy front." Clark said.

"Yeah, but it would be so funny if she beat you down, man. I'm all for a good laugh too."

"Traitor."

"Oh, did I mention that warrior chicks are hot? I mean, have you seen i Buffy /i ?"

Chloe smirked back at Bart. "Well that's definitely a point in your favor. Clark has no taste in television."

"See, so those points totally opt me out of the beat down. To go all play ground on you: fight, fight, fight."

Chloe's smirk widened as she climbed over the fence and into the pasture, satisfied when Clark and Bart followed behind her. She stopped in front of Clark and concentrated. The familiar tingles worked their way up and down her body. Opening her eyes, she glanced around the field, daring the rest of the Bros or her cousin to say anything. She hadn't shifted since the day of the Lexana wedding, but she didn't feel so self conscious about it anymore. It was hard to when all the important men in her life (and Bart) thought she looked beautiful when she did it, and when the rest of Justice and her family took the whole thing in stride.

It was just part of who she was now, in the same way that Clark could fly, Bart could outrun Speedy Gonzalez, or A.C. could talk to the local trout population.

The others had stopped their various practice sessions and had clustered around Bart. They were all off slightly to the side, intently watching her and Clark. Chloe didn't expect to go ten rounds with him or anything, but she was curious to see if she could take a punch, if she had enough strength to rival Tina Greer. Maybe she could scare him a little.

She kind of liked that idea.

Chloe started circling Clark, mimicking the movements she'd seen her cousin make with Oliver earlier.

Clark stayed still. "Chloe, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Oh, Boy Scout, I think this will be fun." Ollie said, grinning.

Lois smirked. "I put twenty bucks on Chloe."

She appreciated her cousin's optimism, but there was no way she was going to win against a Kryptonian. It's not like she had any Kryptonite on her. "Thanks, Lo."

Clark still held back. "I don't want to hurt you."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't pull your punches just once. I wanna see where the limits are. What? You don't want to play HORSE anymore?"

"Um not so much."

Victor nodded toward Lois. "I'm taking the bet with twenty on Clark, but there have to be ground rules."

"What are you the judge of everything now, man?" Bart asked.

"I like the power trips." He quipped. "No speed, just strength."

"Sounds fair," Bart conceded. "Or else I'd be playing."

Lois mumbled something to herself that Chloe couldn't quite catch, but based on the way Clark had turned beat red, it had to have been something bawdy.

"Dudes," A.C. called out, leaning against the fence. "Any time now."

"Ready?" Ollie called.

"Not really." Clark grumped, starting to circle Chloe in turn.

"Bring it." Chloe called and then, off of Lois's eye roll, she added, "I've always wanted an excuse to say that."

"Go!" Ollie said.

She threw the first punch. It was more difficult than she thought it would be. Even without his speed, Clark still had a foot on her and his reach was much better. She had to get in close to him even to land the blow and dart out as quickly as she could. If Clark had been allowed to use his speed, let alone his heat vision, she'd have been creamed corn by now.

Her blow landed in the center of his chest, rocking him back a little, not much, but he did sway. Considering that under normal circumstances, hitting Clark was like trying to take out Mt. Rushmore, Chloe felt encouraged.

He charged her, keeping his speed in check, and she ducked under an uppercut aimed at her chin. She panted a little as she rolled out of his range. Chloe was a consummate desk jockey, meteor powers or no. Clark couldn't be exhausted, and she hadn't so much as run a lap since senior high gym class.

Gasping in a deep breath, she hopped up and spun, quickly ducking another punch Clark had aimed her way. She could hear the others cheering loudly, Lois's voice ringing out above all the others. He prepared to strike again and she side stepped his moved and then maneuvered in close, trying to deliver another blow.

He caught her fist in mid-strike and she heard a slight crunch as he squeezed it. "Chlo?" he asked calmly, "Can we stop now?"

She kicked him in his shin and he howled, dropping her hand. "I think I can go a few more rounds."

"Fine," He answered, aiming a blow at her chest. He missed. She ducked and rolled away again. Hopping up, she recovered and delivered a solid blow to his chest. He stumbled back a few steps but maintained his composure. Regaining his equilibrium, Clark swung out his arm and finally landed an uppercut to her jaw, sending her flying into the collection of hay bales she'd been lounging on earlier.

Disoriented, she sat up, shook herself off, and shifted back to normal. "Damn!"

Clark sighed. "And this is why I didn't want to do that. Not to brag, but you were always going to lose."

"I don't know, Smallville." Lois sing-songed. "She got in a few good shots and made you cry like a widdle girl."

"I did not cry."

"It was more like a manly bellow, right Stretch?" Bart asked, tapping him on the chest.

He blushed. "Something like that." Blurring over to the hay bales, he offered Chloe his hand and pulled her out of the straw. "Satisfied?"

She shrugged and brushed the hay off her clothes. "At least my head's still attached. Under normal circumstances, I doubt that would have been the case."

"So," Bart said. "Does Clark kicking your ass give him negative points or what?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe this is all very i Whose Line Is It Anyway /i and the points don't matter."

"That would make deciding much harder." Victor riposted.

"Well," Chloe added, heading back to her research. "We'll jut have to see."

Day Two

The Sullivan-Lane (or Lane-Sullivan, depending on whom you asked) family was sitting in the Kent living room. Her father was watching the television, flipping between the channels so fast that you would have thought he was the one with superspeed. How he could actually tell what he was seeing, Chloe would never know. It was one of his habits that irked her, along with his slight tendency to tell off color jokes in front of her friends. Still, it was great to have her dad around. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed him over the last two years until she'd started living with him again.

Lois was typing on her lap top, writing up a story before her deadline this evening. Chloe was sitting next to her cousin, working at her own computer and trying with little success to find irregularities in Oliver's research staff. So far, they had nothing that they could use against Lex and no clues on either how to hack into LuthorCorp or where 33.1 was.

"So," her dad said, stopping his channel flipping on a re-run of i The Price is Right /i . "Lois, what are you working on?"

Lois never stopped typing as she spoke. "I have a story that I've been working on about mermaids in Metropolis Harbor."

"Mermaids, huh?" Chloe asked, arching an eyebrow at her cousin. "Did A.C. help you with that one?"

"He might have given me a few details about actual mermaids, not that there are any in Metropolis Harbor, but he also left it vague enough that I had to sub in with what I remembered from i The Little Mermaid /i ."

"So they hang out with Rastafarian crabs often?"

Her father laughed. "Cute, i caoimhneil /i , very cute." He frowned. "So you're saying there aren't any mermaids out there?"

Lois shrugged. "There could be. I haven't proven that they're not there."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "That's the spirit."

Her father's frown deepened. "But if your story's made up, does that mean that there really aren't alligators in the sewer system?"

"Oh that one seems likely. I mean, I never actually saw an alligator because I didn't go into the sewer system but I did interview a few pet shop owners who swore they'd abandoned them down into storm drains."

"You do know that alligators are cold blooded and would die in the Metropolis winters?" Chloe asked.

"I'm just saying it's possible. A lot of things I covered for The Inquisitor could have happened."

"And reporters usually write about what i did /i happen." Chloe said, continuing with her work.

"Yeah, but still, Chloe, think about it. There might be whole legions of alligators out there, right beneath the building you work in. It's a sobering thought." Her dad added, completely sincere.

Sometimes Chloe wondered if maybe she and Lois hadn't been switched at birth. Her cousin and her father were both equally gullible and had that weird attraction to tabloid journalism. Of course, she was midget-sized compared to Lois and Lucy and not a party-line, good soldier like the General so that whole relative mix-up was mostly just wishful thinking.

"Uh-huh. I'll just stick to the Pauline Kahn-Perry White school of journalism."

"The boring one." Lois added. "Besides, I didn't mention the best part. A.C. and Ollie are trying to outdo each other, just like Clark and Bart. A.C. gave me the mermaid story, and Ollie's feeding me rumors about some of the most dirty dealers in Metropolis business. Not Lex, of course, even The Inquisitor is afraid of pissing him off. Something to do with some guy named Nixon, but I've got enough dirt for two or three more columns."

"Now that's true love."

Her father sighed and muted the TV. "I don't know if you girls should make a contest out of this."

"Why not?" Lois asked. "The boys enjoy it and I get all the goodies."

Chloe shrugged. "They'd be trying to out do each other either way and this avoids those annoying pissing contests and the Tarzan chest beating."

"Still, it seems a little competitive."

"Well, it is that." Lois added. "You know…"

And that was as far as she got because there was a knocking at the front door. Both girls looked up at her father and batted their eyelashes at him, trying to coax him into action. Granted, Sullivan-Lane girls were independent career women, but they were also both very comfortable on the sofa and if the passive-aggressive stuff worked for Lana, shouldn't they get a break too?

"Daddy," Chloe said sweetly, "Can you get the door."

"You girls are dangerous together." He mumbled, standing up. "No one can say no to you."

"That's sort of the idea." Lois added.

Gabe opened the door and then yelled out. "Lois! You better come here."

"Uncle Gabe, I'm a genius at work. I can't stop my flow."

"You can stop your flow now, missy. They need you to sign."

"Huh? Sign for what?"

"The botanical gardens that just got delivered to the farm."

Both girls looked at each other and then leapt off of the couch. Chloe beat Lois to the front hall and her mouth gaped open. "Oh my god. Oliver's totally gone Christian Slater on you."

"I'll say." Lois added as she signed the delivery form and stepped aside to let no fewer than ten delivery guys parade through the door. Each of them was carrying a huge flower arrangement. There were, of course, the prerequisite roses of a variety colors from yellow to scarlet red, but there were also orchids, lilies, carnations, and a myriad of tropical flowers Chloe could not name.

"Holy crap!"

"You can say that again, little cuz."

"You know, Lois, if you're not going to date Oliver, I'll take him." Her father added.

"Daddy!"

"What? Did you see all the goodies? Your cousin would be crazy to turn down all this."

"Well, Ollie is a lying snake." Lois harrumphed.

"We all tell lies, dudette." A.C. said as he and the rest of the Bros, including Clark, entered through the Kents' back door. "Besides, why date a tool when you can date a prince?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Like I believe all that Atlantis crap. I'll go with the you're half-fish or whatever, but I don't buy the secret royalty bit. That's totally just designed to get into my pants."

Her father blushed and then looked at his watchless wrist. "Wow, would you look at the time? I need to go and see the barn because of, um, things." And with that he was out the door.

A.C. shook his head as he headed into the living room. "Believe what you want, Lois. I was just trying to tell you that you have a better option than that washout."

"Uh-huh."

The rest of the boys filed into the living room. Clark came to stand close to Chloe, although he remained leaning against the entrance way between his living room and the front hall. Bart, being Bart, was a little more open with his affection. He swept Chloe up in a big hug and spun her around.

"Chiquita, where have you been all my life?" He asked, setting her down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Chloe was pretty sure she imagined Clark's eyes flaring red.

"Sweet, Bart," She said, laughing. "Very sweet. How was recon?"

"We checked out every possible site. Clark X-rayed what we found. We even trolled the most shady warehouses Metropolis Harbor had to offer. We came up with nothing." Oliver grumbled.

"Not necessarily nothing." Victor amended. "Clark couldn't see into most of the buildings. The lead shielding was cheap to use back in the day when a lot of the buildings were constructed. They could all be suspicious or they could all be full or cod. We just don't know."

"Great. I've still been getting nothing following Ollie's possibly poached computer experts. It might be another blind alley."

"So we're still without any info." Clark said, looking for a second like he might punch the wall in frustration.

Lois shivered. "I can't believe Smallville and I agree on anything."

"Thanks Lois."

"Interrupt much, farmboy? I was saying that we still got nothing."

"Master of the shell game." Bart said, and then as an afterthought added, "Not bad at the torturing part either which is a big yuck."

Chloe closed her eyes and smoothed back her bangs. "Tell me you have something that can salvage this day."

"It's not work related." Clark said, smiling a little.

"Ooh, does it involve more roses?" Chloe asked. "I must say I'm flowerless here."

"Oh I've got your flowers right here, and that's not a metaphor." Bart said, blurring and then reappearing at her side, a gust of wind from his entry blowing her hair wildly. "Get a load of this." He puffed himself up and again Chloe got a vision of that damned peacock.

From behind his back, Bart pulled out not one but three exquisite bouquets of tulips---one a brilliant sunshine yellow, one a deep purple, and a third a vibrant red. But it wasn't just the flowers themselves. They came with other presents: a delicate silk kimono, a gourmet box of Turkish coffee and…"

"Are these wooden shoes?"

He nodded, a huge grin practically swallowing his face. "Turns out that you can get Tulips all over the world---Middle East, Japan, and even that windmill country."

"Holland."

"Yeah, whatever. So I brought back a few mementos too."

"Bart, that was very sweet. Thank you."

"Well I am the best courier service around."

Oliver narrowed his eyes. "How'd you afford all of this? That's a hundred percent silk." He said, rubbing the fabric between his thumb and forefinger.

"I took a forward on my paycheck."

"Bart!"

"Now, Ollie," Lois added sweetly. "There's no need to go all Homer Simpson on him. He's being generous and then you get to be generous and I think it's sweet."

Oliver's expression softened. "Well then, I guess it's okay."

Chloe stood up and whispered into Lois's ear. "Since when do you come to Bart's defense?"

She whispered back, "Since he helped me totally ruin The Talon apartment."

"Cool."

A.C. rolled his eyes. "Not to be outdone by everyone's fairy godfather and squirt over there---"

"Hey!" Bart and Ollie both objected.

"But I've got something too." He said, holding out a small lump covered in a white cloth.

Frowning, Lois took and uncovered it. "Wow. A.C. it's beautiful."

Chloe peered around her cousin's elbow and whistled at the gorgeous collection of coral that A.C. had given her. It flared out in snaking arms that were colored in delicate shades of cotton candy pink, bone white, and periwinkle.

"Got it off of the Great Barrier Reef. Let's see Bill Gates top that one."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Let's leave the name calling out of the competition. That's why we have a judge after all."

"So who's pulling ahead, bro?"

"I never divulge my verdicts, besides the girls have a lot of input into the final decision."

"I don't see Stretch pulling a rabbit out of his hat." Bart jibed.

Chloe looked back to Clark who was shuffling nervously. "Look, you don't have to get anything. I mean, this whole idea was stupid anyway."

"No, Chloelicious, Clark should put a little effort into this." Bart said, casting Clark a meaningful look.

"I have something." Clark said, blurring away almost as rapidly as Bart had and reappearing next to Lois.

She jumped and swatted at him. " I am i never /i going to get used to that."

Clark rolled his eyes and pulled out a small bouquet. But it wasn't of tulips. It was made of an assortment of crystals from the Fortress. They were all shaped like diamonds and colored in a spectrum, fading from purple to yellow, shining like amethyst and citrine.

Chloe shifted her hands instantly when she took the bouquet and felt the energetic humming flow through her.

"They're beautiful." She said, her voice choking up.

Lois smirked at Bart. "Check, short stuff."

Day Three

Chloe was sitting on Clark's bed after a long night of researching with Victor and the boy in question. Clark wasn't inclined to do much computer hacking, but he had a talent for it, probably something Kryptonian since they had much better computers than were around on Earth. You know, much better in the way that modern medicine and laproscopic surgery was just a bit more advanced than ye old leech approach in the Middle Ages. Plus, a fresh perspective always helped.

Or it was supposed to. They still had nothing. Who knew Lex had security that was worth a damn and when did that happen?

She sighed and looked across the mattress to her cousin. "Okay, so your turn, truth or dare?"

"This is so eighth grade." Lois said.

"Naturally, but we haven't had an official sleepover in years."

"We share an apartment."

"But a sleepover means we share cramped quarters or use sleeping bags. We haven't done that since your dad was stationed in Arizona."

"Fair enough," she said. Lois chewed her lip for a few minutes before answering. "Truth."

"Who do you actually like better, Ollie or A.C.?"

"Now I know this feels very eighth grade."

"Come on, Lo, don't avoid the question. You know because of the confidentiality rules of the game I can't ever tell any of the boys"

"It's hard to say."

"Really?" Chloe asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I've known Oliver longer and we got so close---"

"Did you ever?"

"Not often enough." Lois said bitterly.

"But A.C.'s a good, noble guy as well. A little too surfer dude for my taste. I think I'd have to go with Ollie. I just know him better, his little leather fetish secret notwithstanding." She pulled a pillow close to her chest. "Your turn, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"You know if you said dare and I dared you to kiss me that would fulfill all the pipsqueak's deep seated fantasies."

Chloe shrugged. "Not going to happen."

"Oh Hell no."

She laughed. "Men really are simple, aren't they?"

"Oh yeah, but juggling them is complicated. So truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Who do you like better: Clark or Bart?"

"I think you know the answer to that one." Chloe said, sighing. "It's not that I don't like Bart and you'd think the constant pick-up lines would get tiring, but it's nice to be cherished that much. Bart's very taken with me. It's like with Jimmy too. They both actually notice me without the powers. It's like with Bart I know exactly what it's like to be Lana."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Smallville does not love you for your superpowers. That's a defense mechanism, and it's stupid."

"He could love me because Lana went and got herself pregnant and married and thus they'll never be together."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Lois said rolling her eyes again and Chloe hoped that for her cousin's sake, her eyes wouldn't roll right out of her head.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, you're still being stupid. Smallville wasn't even that happy when he was dating Lana."

"Clark's rarely happy. If Prozac worked on him, I'd highly recommend it."

"Okay, ignoring that, do you think that Lana would still love him if she knew that he was of the superpowered persuasion? I like Lana. She was a good friend when I first moved here, but she's squeamish and, if what you told me about her initial reaction to 33.1 is true, not exactly brimming with hugs and puppies for meteor freaks."

Only Lois would give a partial tolerance speech and use a slur. Chloe laughed a little to herself. That was definitely her cousin, kind and about as subtle as a jack hammer in one fell swoop. "Okay so I love him a lot. It doesn't mean anything."

"He trusts you and relies on you."

"Friendship."

"And he wouldn't stop staring at you like he wants to jump your bones yesterday."

"Well there is that." She sighed. "Hey, what's it like to date a billionaire?"

"Too many 'business meetings.' It's kind of a pain. The nice couture is a bonus though, not that I care. Ooh, and the limo was fun. They stock that mini-bar like whoa."

Chloe shook her head. Her cousin was a bit more Irish than she was. "It would be nice to have just a car. I had to drive Jimmy everywhere."

"Heh. It's not the billionaire thing that's the attraction but it definitely has its perks. I mean, Ollie's a great guy and I'd have dated him anyway, even if he really had been the hot yet slightly annoying mail courier."

"That's good. Still, with the fringe benefits. Lana never looks happy around Lex even though she married him and swore she loved him." There was a "to a point" and most likely a "not as much as Clark" there too, but Chloe didn't feel like adding that to the discussion. It was a too late for Lana now. "Still, it's like she didn't enjoy anything he did for her. I mean, not shallow here, but if I got a free shopping spree to Paris. I'd be a little grateful."

Lois frowned. "Paris? Her billionaire's better than my billionaire."

"Only if you overlook the 666 tattoo Lex has hidden on his scalp."

"Amen to that, little cuz. You know, I…Hey!" Lois said, shooting a death glare at the window.

"Lois, what the Hell? Martha's sleeping in the next room." Chloe said turning around and yelping when she saw Clark outside her window.

Okay, so the flying thing was new to her too.

It wasn't phasing Lois one bit. Chock up another point for the impassivity of Sullivan-Lane women. "Smallville, seriously. That's creepy. I'm in my pajamas here. You could see things."

"Come on, Lois. First, I've unfortunately seen worse and second, I can see through anything I want. X-ray vision, remember? 

Her eyes narrowed. "You've been scoping me out the entire time, haven't you?"

"God no."

Chloe blinked, "Lois you aren't freaking out about the whole flying thing?"

She shrugged. "He's been showing that one off at practice, like I'm impressed with a guy who imitates a flying mouse."

"I'm going to kill Bart for that nickname," Clark grumbled.

"I actually made it up." Chloe defended.

"Yeah, but he's the one who told Lois and the rest of the guys. Is a little respect too much to ask for?"

"Definitely yes." Lois added, snickering.

Ignoring her cousin, Chloe asked, "So, Clark, what are you doing here? Practicing?"

"Not so much. Look, Chlo, so far I don't think I've done so good a job on the wooing."

"Oh agreed," chirped Lois. "You should have let her kick your ass."

"Not helping Lois." Clark groused.

"Yeah, besides that's your Clark fantasy with all the butt-kicking." Chloe said, turning back to Clark, her tone gentle when she addressed him. "You're being stupid and doing fine. You got me those beautiful, um, gems." She said, amending the statement "crystals from the Fortress" before Lois got suspicious.

"Yeah and Bart brought you stuff from everywhere."

"He is quick for an ankle-biter, I'll give him that." Lois said.

"Anyway," he said, uncrinkling a piece of paper. "This is probably a little corny, but I went to Ollie for advice and he said this worked for him sometimes and, you know, I was thinking romantic and this would be that or super cheesy, I um---"

"Smallville!" Lois snapped, killing the mood a little. "Just get on with it already."

"Oh, yeah, well okay. Um, here we go." He said, looking down at the paper. Chloe knew he must be really nervous. Clark had once confided to her that he'd been able to memorize the dictionary in a few hours, his photographic memory was that phenomenal.

Clark coughed and cleared his throat before he began. He stuttered a bit at first and she was brought back to the unassuming boy he was in high school. It was unbelievably endearing. Eventually though, he was able to put away his paper---his crutch---and face her unflinchingly, green eyes boring into hers, brimming with sincerity and affection.

And so he finished:

i "And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,  
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,  
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,  
But tell of days in goodness spent,  
A mind at peace with all below,  
A heart whose love is innocent!" /i 

"Um, that was, okay, wasn't it, Chlo?"

She leaned in and gave him a deep kiss. "It was amazing. Thank you."

Lois was making gagging sounds next to her, her finger jabbed half-way down her

throat. "That was nauseating, Smallville. All so much Romeo and Juliet, double yuck and you're also so not DiCaprio."

"I didn't ask you, Lois." Clark snapped, his ears turning pink with embarrassment.

"Come on, that was so corny and even I've heard that poem. It's like total twelfth grade English."

"Funny, I don't remember you finishing twelfth grade either time."

Chloe rolled her eyes. There was one good thing about Bart. At least he didn't engage in civil war with her cousin on an hourly basis. "Clark, it was very sweet. I didn't even know you knew Byron existed."

"Well, I didn't, not really. But I thought Irish poet for an Irish writer…"

"He's technically Scottish." Chloe added, winking.

"Hah!" Lois said. Then she snorted, "I'd still have gone for the Peter Gabriel myself, but we can't all be smooth, Smallville."

Clark opened his mouth to say something smart when he was drowned out by, of all things, a mariachi band. Chloe and Lois peered over the windowsill and Clark gazed down below.

"Great. What now?" Lois complained.

"My mom is never getting sleep." Clark moaned.

Chloe squinted down and then laughed. "Is that Bart?"

The speedster was standing in the center of the three amigos from seemingly out of nowhere, though he was thankfully without the fancy hat and the bolero jacket. He was crooning something sweet in Spanish, a smirk plastered on his face.

"I didn't know he could sing." Chloe said, moderately impressed.

"Show-off." Clark grumped, crossing his arms over his chest.

Lois laughed and shook her head. "Ollie's not going to have any money left by the end of the week." Then as an afterthought, she added, "Does anyone else really want nachos now?"

Day Four

"Okay, so this thing is just evil and why would I want to do this when I won't be able to walk afterwards. That's just stupid." Chloe said, as she lurched forward in the saddle.

Lois rolled her eyes at her. "It's not that hard, little cuz, you just make sure to keep up the pressure with your thighs."

"Oh god, bros, she just said that, didn't she?" A.C. added with a dreamy look on his face.

"Um, eww. Did anyone else go to a scary place inspired by A.C.'s aversion to pants?" Bart asked.

"A.C. doesn't wear pants now? What the Hell have I been missing?" Lois asked.

Victor smirked. "Not much."

"That's totally harsh, dude, totally harsh."

Chloe laughed until she lost her balance again and almost slipped out of the side of the saddle. It was all Ollie and Clark's fault, erm, brilliant idea. Ollie had been boarding some of his steeds in a stable just outside of Smallville, and he hadn't had them relocated to Star City after he'd left in February. Clark, of course, still had Tyson, Donatello, and one more gargantuan horse (based on the way he'd snapped at her, Chloe was thinking of calling him Bitey) in his barn.

Since the attempts at Lex ruining and 33.1 tracking had been a bust so far and the tension had led to her, Victor, Clark, and Ollie getting into a four-way shouting match this morning, Ollie had suggested some kind of non-Justice related activity to help clear their heads and decrease the stress.

She wasn't sure how stressless she'd be if Bitey stomped her to death with his hooves, but she never chickened out on anything and wasn't going to start now. Chloe and Lois were riding in the back of the line, side by side. Ollie was leading the front of the pack. He was such a show off that he actually had riding gear (the rest of the Bros, even Clark, had sniggered at his skin tight breaches) and was riding in a microscopic English saddle. Chloe was having enough time hanging onto her horn; she didn't want to be stuck with one of those mini-saddles. It was as bad as riding bareback.

The rest of the Bros were in between, with Bart slipping around in his seat almost as much as Chloe. Victor was on Donatello. Donny was a well-trained dressage horse, had been Lana's show horse as a matter of fact, and didn't need many signals from the riders to stay on path. Victor had taken his feet out of the stirrups and was being very careful not to squeeze too hard. He wasn't used to tempering his strength for horseback riding. Clark was, as Chloe remembered, very skilled at riding. Still, she had to wonder how a Kryptonian had ever learned to kick a horse's side without rupturing organs.

There was just a world of fun mental images in that thought.

She was too busy concentrating on Clark when her horse stepped over a log and she pitched forward again. Lois caught her arm before she fell. "Come on, Chlo, don't fall off now."

She narrowed her eyes at her cousin. "We can't all have spent a summer near a dude ranch."

"Well, being moved all over has its perks. You pick up on a lot of things." She yawned. "God, I'm tired. Couldn't your boys have pulled their little stunt during the daylight hours? Ollie and A.C. did."

"Remind me what they did again?"

"A.C. sang an original song. Who knew the boys were so talented?"

Chloe's mind briefly flashed on legends about mermaids and sirens' songs but said nothing. "Don't tell me Ollie belted one out too. They'll be a boy band in no time."

"Yeah right. I've seen Clark dance. He's hopeless."

"That's true."

"Nope, he's not big with the do-re-mi's, but he did arrange a concert. It's sort of a rain check thing for after the pressure from Lex dies down."

"What kind of concert?"

Lois beamed at her. "WhiteSnake."

"I didn't know they were touring."

"They're not! Isn't it awesome?"

Chloe bit the inside of her cheek. There were a lot of words to describe a WhiteSnake reunion concert. Awesome was not one of them. "That's, gee, that's nice, Lo."

Lois kept beaming, oblivious as ever to other people's actual emotions. "I know. God, I can't wait to hear 'Here I Go Again' in person."

"You know, I think you have a point. Between himself and Bart, Ollie really is going to go broke."

Suddenly, A.C.'s horse in front of them stopped and Chloe yanked hard on Bitey's reins, slowing him down. The horse came to halt and then turned, trying to snap at her, but couldn't quite reach her legs.

"What's up?" Lois called to the front of the line.

"Stopping for a picnic," Ollie said, giving an expert dismount and leading his horse over to a fence post and tying her in place. The others followed suit, except for Chloe. She tried to yank the horse forward, but he stayed firmly rooted in place, as stubborn as a mule.

"Come on, you jerk." She grunted. Bitey stamped his front hoof and twitched his ears, but stayed planted in place. "Oh, it's like that then, is it?" Chloe asked, yanking once more, pulling so hard she was afraid she'd tear the reins. She dropped the thin leather strands, preparing to take drastic action, and yelped when Clark showed up next to her.

"Surprise."

"What have I told you about giving me a heart attack?"

"Not to do it." He said, holding out his hands for the reins.

She gave it to him without complaint. "So what are you going to do? Just give Bitey a taste of the superstrength?"

"Bitey?"

"Trust me. He's a monster."

Clark shook his head and gave Bitey a generous ear rub. "His name is Phillip and he's never bitten anybody."

"He's snapped at me."

"Did he actually get you?"

"Not for lack of trying." Chloe said, narrowing her eyes at him.

Clark clucked his tongue a few times and Bitey, no Phillip, stepped forward, following him to the fence. He wrapped the reigns around a post and gave Phillip one long stroke down his nose. "There you go boy. Good job."

"Sure it's easy if you know that secret tongue thing."

"Yeah, because clucking's that hard, sidekick." Oliver chided as he spread out the picnic blanket.

Chloe walked over and sat down on the blanket in front of her. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Ollie. We can't all be born with a crop in hand."

"Oh it has its uses, believe me." He said, dropping his voice down to what Chloe had dubbed bedroom tone and staring at Lois.

The other girl didn't even blush. "Wishful thinking, Ollie."

The rest of the boys laughed, and they proceeded with the picnic. It was a good thing Clark had superstrength because they'd carried more with them than the commissary at any of Lois's bases normally supplied. Of course, Clark and Bart worked their way through seventy-five percent of the stash. Chloe, for her part, nibbled her way through a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but didn't eat much. It was a chilly March day and even with her thick coat, she shivered a little under the old oak tree.

Clark leaned in and draped his arm around her. She counted down in her head and by the time she reached the count of three, Bart materialized at her other side. "It's nice to have the body heat, but a girl will never get used to the disappearing/reappearing acts."

"Life in the fast lane, Chloelicious."

"Yeah, um, sorry about that," Clark offered.

Chloe glanced at Lois. Her cousin was mirrored in a similar pose, with Ollie's arm draped over her left shoulder and A.C.'s arm draped over her right. "You know, Chlo, I think a girl could definitely get used to the attention."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Fawning must be the ultimate pastime then." He glanced down at his watch. "So, gentlemen…and Bart."

"Hey! I am over eighteen."

"How much over, pipsqueak?" Lois asked.

"Six whole months. Give a player a little credit."

"As I was saying," Victor said. "I thought you boys had come up with another way to outdo each other."

"Ooh, so you've come up with a way to top the random mariachi band?" Chloe quipped, looking at Bart.

He flashed her a cocky grin. "Nothing says 'I love you' like maracas. You could even shake yours if you feel like it."

"Laying it on thick there, bro?"

"Bart's a bear of very little tact." Victor offered and then glancing over at Lois added. "He'd be perfect for you."

"Ha!" Lois laughed and then held a hand up to level with her chest. "You must be this tall to ride this ride."

"Lo, do you even realize the levels of not-quite-entendres in that statement?"

"I do," Clark added, turning a shade of green vastly different from Kryptonite poisoning. "And now I need to steel wool my brain."

"Oh, the burdens of a photographic memory." Chloe said and then added, "So you boys really did find another way to upstage each other?"

"We did, although no one's going to upstage me." Ollie confirmed.

"Dream on, bro."

Ollie ignored A.C.'s jibe and instead turned to Victor. "You're the judge, man, how are we supposed to do it?" 

He shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich. "Alternate between the Sullivan-Lane---"

"Lane-Sullivan." Lois corrected off hand.

"Fine, Lane-Sullivan girls. Do it alphabetical by last name."

Chloe arched an eyebrow. "You really have put thought into the rules haven't you?"

"I was a team captain and I like the regularity of a good play book. Besides, if you don't spell stuff out to the letter these yahoos take advantage."

Bart shrugged. "Vic has a point."

"And with that in mind, I think you're up A.C." Victor said.

"Cool, bro." He said, pulling out a small jeweler's box.

"Sweet," Lois said. "We've gotten to the sparkly section of our competition."

Chloe grinned and nodded to her cousin. "I think this is going to go better than loud noises part of our program."

"Hey!" Bart objected.

She patted his head condescendingly. "Not that your little souvenir from south of the border wasn't appreciated, but it woke up my dad."

"That was a tragedy." Clark said sadly. "He didn't cook waffles this morning."

"Yeah, massive gustatory calamity." Chloe agreed.

"Huh?" Lois asked.

"Never mind, just open your present, Lo."

"Sweet," Lois said, tearing off the wrapping at a pace that would have left Bart in the dust. She opened the box, gasped, and then leaned over to give A.C. a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks. That was so sweet." She brought the large, opalescent pearl to her mouth and scraped it against her teeth. "Yup, real." She narrowed her eyes at him. "These aren't all black market pearls from the Philippines, are they?"

"Like I need to go to the black market." He scoffed. "These babies are easy to find if you know where to look."

"And if you can hold your breath long enough to pry the oyster shells open." Victor riposted. "Mr. Allen, you're up."

"Here you go, Chloelicious," Bart said, handing her his own small jewelry box. Then, glancing over at Clark, he added, "Eat your heart out, Stretch."

"Remember that whole polite thing we were working on?" Victor added. "We're the good guys here. If we break down into name calling and sabotage what do you think the forces of evil would do?"

"Um, steal their gems?" Lois offered.

"Bart almost did that." Ollie mumbled. "I'm betting that was paid for by my credit card, too." 

He shook his head. "I found this beauty in a mine down in Columbia last time I felt like going for a nice, long run. I've been holding it back for a certain señorita for months."

"Color me intrigued." Chloe said, opening up her package and holding up a green stone about the size of a pebble. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Clark flinch instinctively to the sight of the verdant stone.

"Dude, relax. It's an emerald. Technically, it's a trapiche emerald," Bart said pointing to the network of spider veins creeping through it. "See how it makes a pattern?"

"It looks like an eye," Chloe mused.

Bart grinned. "Like I said. I've been keeping it for a while. The way the lines radiate, it reminds me of the sparkle in your eyes." A.C. threw a small rock which bounced off of Bart's shoulder. Bart rubbed his shoulder and glowered at the surfer, "Dude, what was that for?"

"It's an intervention technique."

"Yeah," Ollie agreed. "We're trying to wean you off of bad pick-up lines. Since you've moved back to Smallville, it's been getting worse."

"What you don't like classics like 'If I wrote the alphabet, I'd change it so that U and I were together?'"

Chloe laughed. "You tried that one over breakfast yesterday and all you got was a squirt of whipped cream in your face for your trouble."

"Everyone's a critic." He said, shaking his head. "So, do I at least get a kiss, Chiquita?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him a delicate peck that mimicked her cousin's. "Thank you. I feel like it's watching me, but it is exquisite."

Ollie cracked his knuckles out in front of him and pulled a box out from his pocket as well. "Amateurs. I'm going to show you all how it's done."

"Believe that when I see it, bro."

"Yeah, me too." Clark chimed in.

"Jealous." Oliver chirped as he watched Lois open her gift. She frowned for a second as she looked at the red stone in front of her. Chloe whistled. It must have been six carats. Lois was going to need a crane to lift it. Oliver tilted his head towards her and frowned back. "You don't like it?"

"No, it's not that." She hedged.

"Because I just assumed rubies because they're the rarest there is and someone as rare and delicate as you should have one."

Bart threw a pebble of his own at Ollie, "Now who needs weaning off the bad lines, Robin Hood?"

Victor snorted. "Besides, I know there are a lot of words to describe Lois, but 'delicate' sure as Hell ain't one of them."

Oliver wasn't paying attention. He was still staring at Lois. "What's wrong?"

"No, it's just that it reminds me a little of those stupid red meteor rocks like in Chloe's class ring." Clark blushed all the way to the tips of his ears. Now that the gang knew more about Clark (Bart had been more than generous in sharing that rock allergy secret during the week.), he'd come out and admitted that the whole Valentine's Day man-whore fiasco had been caused by a severe allergic reaction to the red variety of everyone's favorite space rock.

"And that would be bad because?"

"You know," Chloe said, covering. "I know the school totally cheaped me out on my ring and soiled those wonderful high school memories---Go Crows---but that is no reason to hate on any other red stones. That's just stupid."

"Yeah," Lois said, casting a guilty glance at Clark before perking up. "I was just being stupid." She leaned over and gave Oliver a kiss to match A.C.'s. "Thanks, I love it."

"Any time." Ollie said a little stiffly, his brows still furrowed in confusion.

Deciding she really didn't want Ollie to ever find out about Valentine's Day, Chloe moved the conversation right along. "So, Clark. You're the last one up. Whatcha got?"

"Remember, nothing from the cow counts as a gemstone." Bart added.

"Impulse, don't make me take points away for poor sportsmanship," Victor warned.

Bart rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Stretch, I'm sure it's nice."

Clark nodded and handed Chloe a surprisingly large box. "Um, Clark?"

"Just open it."

Chloe peeled back the box and gasped. The diamond before her---she was pretty sure it was a diamond even though it was a clear blue---was about the size of a baseball. "Holy crap!"

"What? Did Smallville go all Ebenezer Scrooge on you?" Lois glared at Clark. "You know, contrary to popular belief, cubic zirconium is not the way to say 'I love you.'"

"Uh, Lo," Chloe said, holding up Clark's gift. "I don't think this is a fake."

"Holy crap!" Lois echoed.

"I know, that's what I said!"

Bart was less impressed and more livid. "Oh that's bullshit! You totally stole that."

"I did not."

"Yeah," A.C. added. "When would the Boy Scout do anything illegal?"

"Aside from breaking an entering and attempted murder." Lois mumbled under her breath.

"Still, damn." Oliver said. "I gotta tell you Clark. I've been to the Smithsonian and I'd never know the difference."

"Difference in what?" Victor prodded.

"This," Chloe said, holding up the gem. "Is a perfect replica of the Hope Diamond."

"Dude, you're sure you didn't steal that, right? And yeah I know I'm the one with the sticky fingers but that one's cursed and I so don't need bad luck to add to whatever Daddy Warbucks is going to be throwing at us."

"I don't do magic." Clark added and then smirking at Lois in a very Kal way, he added. "I don't do slutty French witches either."

"Why do I have a feeling I've missed all the good Smallville stories?" Ollie asked.

"Oh, I was there for that one and also corseted out. You missed nothing." Chloe said. Then, turning her attention to the rock she asked, "How did you do this. Only 1 of all diamonds are even blue."

"It took a while and I had to luck into getting some coal with the right impurities in it."

"Clark," Ollie started. "Do you know how much that's worth?"

"Um, actually, not really. I'm guessing a lot?"

Ollie slapped his head and mumbled something about dealing with uncultured farm kids. Once in a while, like with his breaches, Ollie's trust fund brat showed through. "Let me put it this way, if you sold that, you could finance your own summer blockbuster with a CGI shot in every frame."

Bart whistled. "So we're talking mad money here?"

"Definitely."

"Hey Clark." Victor added. "I've always liked you. Could you hook me up too? I could always use a little rainy day money, in case, you know, I rust."

"I don't actually make them that often."

"Just for Lana," Lois quipped.

"Well it kind of looks suspicious, you know."

Chloe leaned up and whispered in his ears. "What happened to all the ones that didn't work out?"

He whispered back, "In the Fortress."

"Damn. You know, if you ever really get up against it, Clark…" Chloe said, shaking her head.

"Not happening." He said, frowning. " What's with all the focus on the price tag? You aren't going to sell it, are you?"

"Hell no, but I think I'm going to go find my own Gringots to stash it in."

Victor laughed while everyone else just looked confused. "Oh, like you all never read."

"At least someone appreciates my references." Chloe said, setting her present gently back in its box. "Clark, thank you. I i love /i it and it completely makes up for Lana's engagement ring." She leaned up and hesitated, desperately wanting to kiss him on the lips, but she'd been the one to come up with the rules for the contest and the biggest rule besides the no sabotage was playing fair with the boys. Sighing, she turned her head at the last minute and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek instead. "It's really amazing."

Lois nodded. "Nice move for once, Smallville. It almost makes up for that stupid dictionary from last year."

Clark groaned. "God, i almost /i ? I never want to try pleasing you Lois."

She smirked back at him. "You'd never come close."

"Um, does anyone else remember the endless mooning over the Green Arrow?" Chloe asked, making gagging noises.

Clark put his head in his hands. "Don't remind me."

"Hey! It wasn't my fault. I was blinded by all the pretty leather."

"And that's just whole new levels of ewww." Bart said.

"Amen to that." Chloe added, laughing and giving both her boys a big hug.


	18. Chapter 18

**Fifth Night**

"I don't believe you."

"I assure you, Clark, if I knew anything of consequence about what my son is planning, then I would tell you." Lionel said, leaning back casually in his chair.

"You don't fool me, you know." Clark groused.

Lionel brought a hand to his chin and stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I don't?"

"No. You might have snowballed my mother and you might be the emissary for Jor-El, but I don't buy the saint act."

Lionel turned to her and frowned. "Miss Sullivan, surely you believe in what I have to say. I was accurate in my assessment of Milton Fine and if memory serves that information helped the both of you save the world. I think I've earned Clark's trust."

Chloe dug her fingernails into her palms to keep herself from yelling at him. Lionel was frustrating that way. He showed all the emotion of an overfed alligator on a hazy Florida summer day. You could scream and cry at him, but he'd always regard you with cool disdain or worse, in Clark's case, with paternal enthusiasm. "Mr. Luthor, pardon me if I don't feel inclined to trust the man who tried to both blow me up and sent an assassin after me."

"Or dumped me in a tank of Kryptonite."

"Well that was all in the past," Lionel defended.

"And the past is prologue, Mr. Luthor. It overshadows every action you'll ever take."

"So much for having a forgiving nature, Miss Sullivan."

"Spare me."

"Flippancy won't prompt me to help either of you any faster."

Clark snorted. "As if you've given us anything to work off of right now."

"I've told you everything I know."

"Which is a big load of nothing," Clark said, curling and uncurling his fists at his sides.

Chloe put a reassuring hand on his arm. They wouldn't get any information out of Lionel if Clark put him in traction. Sure, they'd get a deep sense of satisfaction and a giddy little smile for both of them, but they probably would learn more about their archnemesis's evil schemes. "Mr. Luthor, can you please start from the top with what little you do know."

Lionel sighed dramatically. "As you wish, Miss Sullivan. The whistle blower back in November who abducted my son managed to shake up the way things were run in the company. I had to scramble to relocate the 33.1 facility in LuthorCorp towers and my hand in that cover-up was what allowed me to become a partner in the project."

Clark's eyes flashed dangerously for a moment. To Lionel's credit, he didn't even flinch, whether that non-reaction was because he had absolute faith in Clark or because of his own arrogance, Chloe was not sure. "You knew about all those people Lex had locked away and you just packed them on up like luggage and moved them to another location for even more invasive testing. Why didn't you free them? You could have done it."

"And tipped my son off to whose side I am really on. My role as your father's---"

"He is not my father." Clark spat.

Lionel held both hands in a conciliatory gesture. "As you wish. My role as Jor-El's emissary works best if Lex doesn't know that I'm working with you."

"Some emissary. It's not like you've been connected to Jor-El since Fine destroyed the Fortress." Clark sniffed.

"That is true, but I am loyal to you and to your mother. I thought it best for your sake and for other's benefits as well if there was someone on the inside of 33.1."

"Well that would be good logic, if you could tell us anything---anything at all----that could help us locate the local facilities, but you've given us nothing." Clark groused.

"I'm sorry about that. After your friends---Mr. Allen's among them, is he not?" Lionel shook his head. "He scared me quite a bit. I thought that red blur on the security footage was you."

"I think Lex suspected the same thing." Chloe added, frowning. "He's been hinting at things lately and the trap he set up, well, he assumed it would contain Clark."

"Then we should all be grateful that Lex was wrong on more than one count. If he thinks electrical shocks could injure, let alone torture a Kryptonian, then let him."

"We weren't going to take out a P.S.A., believe me. Besides, I like the idea of playing Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch." Chloe conceded.

"Huh?" Clark asked.

"Amusing, Miss Sullivan." Lionel said, a slight smile curving across his face.

"Zippity-do-dah. So, okay, you've been trying to play double agent the entire time but Lex obviously hasn't trusted you since the incident at the Ridge Facility and has been keeping his newest big and evil labs under wraps from even you."

"That is correct. I have access to certain things in this company, but it is not mine, not anymore." His voice hardened at that and he glared at Chloe.

"I'm not going to apologize because you murdered your parents. You're insanely lucky you're not still in jail trying not to bend over for that soap."

"Oh god, mental images." Clark gasped.

"Miss Sullivan you have always been so talented with the imagery. The allusion is crude and something I'd expect of your cousin, but I must give you credit for your sharp tongue."

She frowned. "Okay, so I ousted you from the company and based on what Luthor, Jr.'s been doing, I'm pretty sorry about the end result. Who knew you were the i lesser /i of two evils?"

"Life is unpredictable like that isn't it?"

"Tell me about it." Clark muttered.

"I can imagine, Clark." Lionel said before focusing back on Chloe. "I know Lex was furious after the Ridge Facility was destroyed and tried to increase security specifically in his local 33.1 holdings so much so that I was excluded from even knowing their locations. However, I have noticed that your friends have been working quite effectively to destroy the international bases."

"Yeah, they have." Clark agreed.

"The most recent casualty was a site in Cairo. As far as my intel has informed me, there are only three international sites left intact: Mexico City, Shanghai, and Paris."

"Son of a bitch." Chloe cursed.

"What?" Clark asked.

"Think about it, Clark. You're the one who had the field trip to China, you told me so. The three locations he listed all have to do with the Kryptonian crystals Lex was looking for."

"Yeah, but Malta and Greece and a bunch of other sites had nothing to do with it."

"Fair enough, but he definitely made sure to include those sites because of the power they were near to."

Clark furrowed his brow. "Even Paris? It was just Isobel there."

Chloe leaned over the desk towards Lionel. "When did the Paris site become operational?"

"The first of June 2004."

She shook her head. "He didn't choose the location to be close to Isobel or the stones, not really. Lex was trying to move in on Lana even then. Wow, stalker much? This goes way beyond telescope peeping."

Lionel chuckled amusedly and Clark blushed. "I wasn't i that /i bad."

"Not compared to Lana's Hall of Stalkers." Chloe sighed. "It still doesn't help us much. We know he's going to want to keep a site close enough to the mother load of meteor rocks and that he'd probably try and keep it within a reasonable distance of the Kawatchee Caves."

"That might help actually." Clark said. "It means we shouldn't waste our time in Metropolis, but start combing the greater Smallville area---all outlying pastures and abandoned tracts too---for anything unusual." Off of her eye roll, he amended, "Okay, anything more unusual. It's not great, but it helps at least get us off of the wrong track."

She nodded. "It's something." Turning back to Lionel, she asked, "Mr. Luthor, is there anything else you can tell us?"

"I don't think he's resting on his honeymoon. I'm sure he's in constant contact with his resources here, continuing on with the research even if the new information is gleaned over the phone."

"I gathered that much on my own." Clark said.

"The only other thing I can tell you is that in the last four or five days, there has been a constant stream of LuthorCorp trucks and heavy mining equipment working out of Smallville and driving somewhere else. I don't know where." 

"So?" Clark asked. "Isn't he always mining more Kryptonite for his experiments?"

"Not in this quantity. It's a big enough interruption in Smallville business that he couldn't hide it from me."

Chloe felt something cold and slimy slithering in the pit of her stomach. All the hints that Lex had been giving at the wedding, the innuendo. She couldn't prove that he knew, but she had a horrible feeling that he was closer to the truth than he had ever been. Maybe everything with Zod or with Behren had finally put him over the edge. Finding her voice, she added, "Thank you, Mr. Luthor, we appreciate it."

"Any time Miss Sullivan." He gave Clark his impression of a warm and genuine smile, but coming from Lionel it was just odd and unsettling, like a freak snowstorm in the Sahara. It simply didn't belong. "Tell your mother I've been thinking of her."

"Fat chance." Clark replied.

Lionel chuckled. "Temper, temper, Clark. Oh, and at least do me one favor."

"Unlikely."

"You'll be wise to do this one. Clark, please be more cautious from now on. Lex did manage to show me a single camera still from two weeks ago and it was a blue blur this time. I understand your need to protect Miss Sullivan---"

"Even more unlikely."

"But the stereotypical action hero only remains uninjured in the movies. Lex is smarter than even the two of you have given him credit for, than I gave him credit for." Lionel picked up a business card. From where Chloe stood, she could make out his title. It certainly no longer said i CEO /i . "I raised him to be dangerous."

"Then, Lionel, mission accomplished."

Entering back into the Kent kitchen seemed to Chloe like entering into the NORAD site at Defcon 1. Oliver and Victor were where she and Clark had left them at six o'clock this morning, pouring over what few LuthorCorp building plans were available and still trying to track down any turncoat scientists from Queen Industries. Lois was sitting next to Ollie, chicken pecking her way to a new story. Chloe couldn't remember which one it was this time, but she was pretty sure that A.C. had fed her enough info to write a follow-up to her "Alligators in the Sewers" series, except that this time it was something about hammerhead sharks.

She rolled her eyes. It pained her that her cousin, who actually had a flare for writing, if one could look past her allergy to the spell check button and penchant for sensationalism, was still settling for writing that crap. It pained her more that she'd taken two straight weeks off from the Planet, but Perry'd made the offer for extra time at Lex's wedding and considering their out of town guests and the threats to her personal safety, Chloe had taken him up on it. Idly, she wondered just what her editor Bernstein had done at his bachelor party.

She suspected it was quite a bit more than drunken lampshade wearing in order for Perry to have the leverage he did.

Chloe was about to shut the door behind her when a strong arm pressed up against the wood. "Dudette, could you not? Me and the Bart-man just got back."

True to A.C.'s word, Bart had blurred back into the living room, his arrival eliciting groans from the research team when his breeze blew architectural plans across the kitchen floor.

He waggled his eyebrow at her. "Hear that, Chloelicious? I'm the Bart-man. Got my own dance and everything."

"And that would be impressive if it were 1989," Victor quipped before cursing at his lap top. "Stupid fucking security measures."

Clark crossed his arms over his chest. "So I take it you guys haven't had any luck either."

"I wouldn't say that, Smallville, this killer shark expose is so much better than my alligator article."

"Lois, I thought we were trying to work for a peaceful understanding of sea creatures. Sharks aren't evil, just misunderstood." A.C. corrected.

"Please, have you seen i Jaws /i ?"

"Yeah, I base all factual information off of Spielburg movies. Next you'll be telling me that stealing ancient treasure always releases giant boulders and that aliens make all bicycles fly."

i Well, technically, /i Chloe thought to herself, looking over at Clark. His cheeks were rosy from blushing and he had dropped his eyes to the floor. Yeah, the boy really needed an acting coach. Deflecting attention as always, Chloe added, "Guys, I'm glad Lois's newest article is going so well, but I think Clark was talking about any info on Lex."

"Then we've got bup and kiss." Ollie quipped.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how everything shook out for us, Chloerita. A.C. scoped Metropolis Harbor and Crater Lake and I went back over every district in the city. We found nothing."

"Bro?" A.C. asked Clark. "You guys get anything?"

"Not much. Lionel claims to know basically nothing---"

"And he's so trustworthy," Oliver scoffed, folding up a map of Metropolis.

"We know that." Chloe conceded.

"But he did know there are still international sites in Mexico City, Paris, and Shanghai. Also, Lionel suspects that Lex is keeping his local site closer to the Kawatchee Caves here, somewhere in the countryside."

"That's it?" Ollie asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Just that Lex is also moving more meteor rock than is normal even for him, and that it's all going out of Smallville, but that's it."

"Well isn't it great to be at square one?" Bart said. "Look," he added, turning to Ollie. "Can I have the afternoon off? I've run my ass all over Kansas for the last four hours, and I need some time to refuel."

Ollie nodded. "You can take leave if you want. It's computer stuff for the rest of the day which, with Victor and Clark here, we've got covered."

"Yeah, it only takes one person to hit on 'Access Denied.'" Victor added.

"Well, let's see what I can do and why wasn't my meteor power superhacking again?" Chloe said pulling out a chair. She was about to sit down when she found Bart already occupying her seat.

"Not so fast, Chiquita. Leave's for two people. I've got one more event left in the woo-a-thon and I plan to blow you away."

She rolled her eyes. "I think that stopping the biggest evil in the Western Hemisphere trumps trying to get into my pants."

"Which he's i not /i doing." Lois and Clark chorused.

Then Lois shivered and added. "Eww, now I'm starting to think like Smallville. Stop me before I wear plaid."

"Ha-ha Lois. It's not like I want to start wearing stripper-wear either."

"Not cool, bro." A.C. "You totally harshed the buzz I always get from thinking about Lois in a bikini."

"Yeah, I'm going to have nightmares, too." Victor said.

"Anyway," Chloe added, straightening her silky top. "I don't think this is a good time."

Ollie shrugged. "I'm taking Lois out to dinner tonight and A.C. called dibs on her for lunch today anyway. I don't see how it could be the end of civilization as we know it."

"See," Bart said, sweeping her up in surprisingly strong arms. "Just a quick bite won't hurt."

Bart Allen, for all his cockiness and immaturity, never failed to surprise Chloe. Sometimes, he just popped into existence and startled her like Clark did, and sometimes he'd try out a pick-up line that coming from anyone else, would have made her yank out her taser. Some days she still considered it an option even with him. But this afternoon was a real treat. He'd run them both down to this wonderful seaside restaurant he'd visited before in Cancun. ( i Trust me, Chloelicious, none of that Montezuma's revenge here. /i ), and they were enjoying a plate of chicken enchiladas and watching the waves roll across the shore.

It was more romantic than she would have thought him capable of being.

The other surprise for the day was that Bart, the consummate motor mouth, hadn't said anything aside from ordering, and even then it had been just a few choice phrases in Spanish.

She took a sip of her Coke and turned from watching the aquamarine water to watching him instead. What she saw made her chuckle. Bart had already worked through two-thirds of the massive platter and had sauce splattered at the corners of his mouth.

"What?"

"You've got a little stuff," She said, pointing to the corners of her own mouth with an index finger.

"Where?" He said, dabbing at his cheeks and completely missing the stain.

"Oh, here," she said, dabbing her napkin in her water (like she was i ever /i going to drink it) and wiping at his mouth. "Got it."

He smirked at her. "That definitely hit the spot."

She thwapped him with her napkin. "You weasel. You planned that."

His smirk widened. "Anything to get you to touch my mouth, Chloelicious."

"Sly, Bart, real sly."

"I try," he said, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. It was more a gesture she associated with Clark, and it looked wrong on Bart, as if he'd decided to dress up in his big brother's clothes. Not that she could ever see him in flannel.

Chloe frowned. "You okay?"

"Peachy. Got my girl and my gut buster enchiladas----not as good as the burritos---but I didn't want to be cutting the queso, you know, so everything's copasetic."

"Copasetic?"

"I heard Ollie use it once during a conference call. Sounded cool enough to me."

She giggled but sobered quickly. "I don't buy that you're fine Bart. You're a chatter box, almost impossible to shut up, and you haven't said a word since we got here."

"Not true, I wrangled us up some non-bacteria filled grub."

"Me, my stomach, and the Kents' one bathroom all appreciate it." She sighed. "Seriously, you don't have to do the 'shiny, happy people' bit with me. Hell, I invented that one. It was a defense mechanism for living with Lana."

"Alright then. That's cool too." He said and then looked down at his napkin.

"The talking thing actually works if you open your mouth."

"Can't I be silenced by the awesomeness of your beauty?"

"Your pick-up lines are at least getting more genuine and less frat house."

He laughed. "I like you a lot. I'd be so freaking happy to be able to run back in time a hundred years from now and tell you how in love we still are...if it were true."

"Bart…"

He shook his head. "No, Chiquita, I know I'm not going to win."

She rolled her eyes. "I only played along with the whole contest idea because you and Clark seemed so excited about it. I resent the whole idea that I'm some damsel in a tower waiting for you two boys to rescue me." She shifted her right hand briefly. "I can take care of myself."

"I know. We totally didn't mean to steal your 'I am woman, hear me roar' deal. It was sort of the opposite."

"Opposite, huh?"

He nodded. "You're all career woman and you kick ass at it. I don't even read the paper because, you know, total snooze fest, but I read your stuff and it's interesting. It's not entertaining in the 'Gargoyle's at St. Patrick's Cathedral Are Alive' kind of way, but it's good."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "My cousin is ruining journalism."

"I like your stuff better than hers, and it has nothing to do with your respective hotnesses. Although, seriously, is there something your family fed you as little kids because damn."

"Nope, just lucky I guess and you should see Lucy."

His eyes lit up. "There's another one?"

"Lois has a sister."

"Sweet." He said. "Wish you had an identical twin."

She laughed. "I don't think the world could handle two of me."

"Oh, I could."

"Conversation is now verging on frat house again."

"Not how I meant it. I just wish you liked me the way you liked Clark. You were sexy when I first breezed in here and shared a moment with you at The Talon two years ago. Now that you have superpowers, you're like i calientismo /i ."

"Thanks." Chloe said a little uncomfortably. She wasn't used to all the adoration. She had a little more practice, thanks to Jimmy's enthusiasm, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she should be Lana or at least Lois when guys looked at her that way.

Bart twirled his napkin absentmindedly and continued. "Still, I knew you and Clark were totally supposed to be an item. I got the whole vibe when we were back here last month. When he kept talking about your boyfriend, I thought he meant himself, and I may not be the most observant guy but I totally see how you smile at him. I can't help but notice the way you pay attention to him in the middle of a Bros' meeting like he's the only person in the room. You guys just need like your own trail of animated animal buddies to make it like a Disney-approved romance."

"Yeah, minus all the breaking and entering and exchanges of death threats we're totally Walt approved." She frowned. "But if you knew how I felt about Clark, why'd you do it?"

"I wanted my shot because there aren't enough cool chicks---superpowered or not---to go around. Besides," he said, slouching lower in his chair. "Stretch takes you for granted. I figured if he had a little competition it might get him off his ass and he'd start treating you like the princess you are."

"I'm so not a princess."

He shrugged. "Eye of the beholder thing, and you have a diamond big enough to play baseball with that says I was right."

"So the whole competition was for me and not just in the hapless damseling way?"

He shook his head. "Just in the manipulate Clark way."

She grinned. "You know, Bart, I do like the way you think."

"Thanks. I keep telling Ollie, I'm like a genius. He never listens."

"God, if you start plotting like an evil mastermind…"

"You could be my minion. I can hold open a special spot for you if you agree to wear pleather." He said, standing up and extending a hand toward her.

Standing, she took the proffered hand and prepared for that blur of superspeed. "What is it with you boys and pleather?"

"It's the fabric dreams are made of." He smiled wistfully at her. "You'll take care of Clark, right? Help remove that massive tree branch he has shoved up his---"

She put a finger to his lips, stopping him. "Yeah, I will." She leaned over and kissed him. It was soft and gentle and a little more intimate than something shared just between friends. "Thank you, Bart."

He pulled away, a huge puppy-dog grin planted on his face. "Don't mention it."

"You know, when I heard that you were taking me out on an honest-to-God date, the kind that I actually had to put on a nice dress for, I thought you'd take me somewhere special."

Clark bit his lip. "It is special. There's no place else on Earth like the Fortress."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "That's one way of putting it. Still, a little warning would have been nice. I wouldn't have worn that purple dress from Thanksgiving that you liked so much if you'd told me I was going to be freezing to death the entire time."

"You're going to freeze to death about as much as I'm going to freeze to death." He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. As always, Chloe felt the flush heat from the contact spreading through her crystallized palm.

"Still, I was thinking that fancy French place in Metropolis where they serve things like caviar and snails."

Clark stuck out his tongue. "I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole and I'm an alien."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He shrugged. "Who knows what my ancestors even ate. It's probably better I don't know the answer to that, although it can't be grosser than snails." Clark stopped at the edge of the crystal garden and set down one of Martha's hand made quilts. Chloe sat down on it and watched (or tried to) as he set out all the food in superspeed.

She gasped at the assortment of goodies there---chicken pot pie, banana pudding, scalloped potatoes. "All my favorites. Clark, I didn't notice you making them."

"I can cook but I asked your dad to help me do it on the down low so I could get it just the way you liked it. We cooked it at Ollie's place so you wouldn't know."

She quirked her head at him. "So that means my dad knows you're on a date with just me."

"Yeah, we made awkward conversation while cooking. I wanted to try standard guy talk but he's never even seen a Shark's game. Can you believe that?"

"What a tragedy. My dad's not a complete Neanderthal, you know. He's more about those two wild and crazy guys and The Samurai Deli."

Clark shrugged. "Wish I'd known. I kind of like Steve Martin."

"So, besides the inevitable 'don't touch my little girl' threats, what did you talk about?"

"He didn't threaten. I think he figured the threats would fall flat when the guy in question can rip through solid steel."

"A few of those rocks and you'd be at the Sullivans' mercy."

"Good thing you two like me so much then."

"I wouldn't jump the gun on that one," Chloe said, taking a bite of the pot pie Clark had scooped out onto her plate. "Daddy still blames his Mylanta dependency on you."

Clark blushed. "I was deeply stupid in high school." Chloe coughed. "And until about two weeks ago."

"That's okay. I forgive your immaturity and crazy obsessions. Besides," She added, her tone forced, "Lana i is /i gorgeous. Exotically lovely even. I mean everybody knows it. Hell, every meteor mutant ever has stalked her. There must be something there to like."

Clark grabbed her hand and held it between his. "You shouldn't do that."

"What? Use my hand and fork to eat. I could just slam my face into the plate, but I didn't think you'd appreciate that very much."

He chuckled but sobered quickly. "No, I mean talk badly about yourself."

"I actually spoke well of Lana. She is beautiful and, yeah, she may have crap taste in men and apparently an inability to read the birth control instructions, but she's my best friend outside of you and Lois." She shook her head and set her plate down with her other hand. "God, Lex is going to ruin her."

Clark said nothing for while but instead stared absently at a large cluster of amethyst-like crystals. "We can still save her."

"We just have to beat Lex into submission." She agreed. "Ooh," she said, perking up. "Can we just literally beat Lex into submission? String him up like a piñata or something because that would be so awesome I can't even tell you. We can all take turns going for the candys."

"That's not very superhero-y."

"We should revise the rules then."

"Besides," he said, pulling her towards his chest. "That's not the point of the date. We've been obsessing with Lex's evil schemes for a week and this is time to just be us."

"God, I feel like we haven't had a real conversation since the night before the wedding."

"We didn't really then. Just sort of huddled together in the loft." He looked down at her, bright green eyes brimming with worry. "You never did tell me what you dreamed about."

"I told you I dreamed about the lab again."

"But it was more than that. I've sat with you a lot since I busted you out of Lex's lab and you were more spooked than I've ever seen you that night."

Chloe closed her eyes and took a calming breath. Even then, she couldn't stop her right fist from closing tight. She was not a murderer. She wasn't. It was just something she'd dreamed, but she couldn't tell Clark. She just couldn't. Even if it had been only a dream, the desire was real enough. She'd i wanted /i to do it, feared that deep down she was capable of taking a life.

Opening her eyes, she looked back up at him and hedged. "I dreamed he used me as bait to catch you, that he killed you."

Clark gave her a pained smile. "I'm still here."

She nodded and hugged him tightly, reveling in the warmth between them. "I know. It just felt real, but, on that note, I have to tell you I think it's possible that Lex knows."

"Look if it's about the meteor rock shipments, the Luthors have been using that stuff for research since probably before you came to Smallville."

She shook her head. "It's not that. He implied a lot of things at the wedding. It worried me then, the way he was looking at you, but I wrote it off as more of his trying to get to me, but I don't think that's it."

"Well he's in Paris right now and he'd have to get through the Bros before anything happened. Besides, it's not like he knows anything about Kryptonite." Clark's voice was steady, but she could feel his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

"I know, but if he knows anything then that makes him infinitely more dangerous."

"And like everything else, all we have is suppositions and suspicion. Although," he added, biting his lip.

"Although what?"

"I think they both know."

"Lana?"

"She was acting really skittish around me at the wedding."

She nodded. "I noticed that, but I figured it was just because of all the awkward love triangle business Linda Lake and The Inquisitor had been stirring up."

"Yeah, but it was different this time. She flinched when I touched her. Even when I was Kal, she's never reacted like that."

"Then it's probable that they do know."

"Perfect." Clark said, running a hand through his hair, causing it to stand on end. "I can't wait for something else to go apocalyptically wrong."

"We don't know they know. You're right," Chloe backpedaled. "It's probably all just wedding jitters and Lex being an ass."

"Maybe, but when Lex gets back from Paris, everything is just going to get worse." He shook his head. "I thought that especially with Ollie and everyone else here that we'd be able to hurt 33.1 badly, maybe even cripple it. Who knew Lex could actually be a competent villain?"

She sighed. "Well he has had an arms war waging with Ollie for months. I'd bet that he's had to step up his game severely to outdo the other billionaire with limitless resources."

"I just wish---"

She grasped his chin between her fingers and pulled him down toward her. "We i will /i get him. There's something we're missing, but I've tracked down a lot of mysteries. We get that one elusive puzzle piece and the whole tower of cards comes falling down."

"Mixing metaphors." Clark chided

"Hazard of reading too many of Lois's articles."

He laughed. "It's weird having her know so much about me. I think the oddest part is that it doesn't even phase her."

Chloe shrugged. "We Sullivan-Lane----not Lane-Sullivan, mind you---girls are made of sterner stuff. Besides, we're from Metropolis. You haven't seen weird until you've seen the big city."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said, picking up his own plate and digging into the potatoes.

"Clark?"

"Hrumph." He mumbled around a mouthful.

Chloe rolled her eyes. Clark might be from a supposedly advanced civilization (after meeting Zod and Fine she wasn't overly impressed with Kryptonian society), but he was a farmhand at heart. "When are you going to tell the rest of the Bros?"

"Tell them what?" He asked, a little bit of the potatoes falling out of his mouth.

Chloe scooched back to avoid falling spuds. "The big secret."

His eyes widened, "Are you serious?"

"Hey!" She chided, indignation rife in her tone. "They know about my powers. Isn't it fair that they know everything about you?"

"No."

"Okay, now who's being stubborn and paranoid about rejection?"

He set down his plate. "I'm not. It's just that people who know get hurt like Pete and Dad. Hell, even Nixon and Hamilton. I don't want to put the rest of Justice in so much danger."

She snorted. "Ollie's one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. He has those aforementioned acres of resources. He can protect the others even if they didn't have superpowers."

"Well when you put it that way, my objection doesn't sound so reasonable." He conceded.

"Bart's already suspicious."

"Bart?"

"He's a smart guy."

"I'll bet." Clark grumbled.

"Are you jealous?"

"Maybe a little."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be. I chose you, you know."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes."

He furrowed his brow. "What about Victor and an official verdict."

She shrugged. "I made up the rules, and I say that I choose you."

He leaned down, preparing to kiss her, but paused about a foot from her face. "Does that mean you trust me?"

Smiling sultrily, she closed the gap between them and kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, and pressing her body flush against his. They stayed like that for a long time, caressing one another, heat flaring between them so strongly that Chloe felt as if she were lying in a tanning bed turned up to full volume. Reluctantly, she broke off for air. "Does that answer your question?"

He was grinning back at her like that slightly dopey eighth grader she'd known so long ago, before the weight of the world had bowed even his mighty shoulders. "Yeah, it does." He leaned forward again but she brought a hand to his lips, stopping him. Clark groaned, "What the Hell, Chlo?"

"Making a point here. I trust you and the Bros trust you. You should tell them the truth. Everyone else, even me, has come into the group with everything fully disclosed."

He sighed and moved away from her a little. "I can't."

"Why not? You think they're going to freak? That the Atlantean and the cyborg are going to think you're the i weird /i one? You're their friend, Clark. You've saved their lives. They're still going to like you."

"But they're going to look at me differently. Everyone always does," he said, staring back toward the amethyst crystal patch.

Undeterred, Chloe reached over and pulled him to face her. She was getting used to being able to force Clark to do some things. If only she could keep him from blurring away on her. "I don't look at you differently, do I?"

"Yeah, you do. You look at me like I could save the world single-handedly in thirty minutes, like I was a god or something."

She snorted. "I definitely don't think that. Anyone up close and personal for your parade of bone headed moves---still staying out of college comes to mind----wouldn't ascribe you deity status."

"But you have so much faith in me."

"I always had faith in you, even before I knew what you could do, exactly. I always knew you were the one who could make things right. I still believe in you, no matter what Zod threw at you, and despite Lex keeps pulling, you always save the day."

"Like Might Mouse?" He asked, smiling wryly.

"Something like that."

"I appreciate that." He said earnestly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Still, people who know treat me differently. You expect so much---"

"I've always expected a lot of everyone around me. Remember what a slave driver I was for my Torch staff?"

He snorted. "You mean the minions?"

"Exactly. I'm a perfectionist."

"Can't argue with that one." He sighed. "Pete always expected tricks and, if we're right and Lana knows, well, she looks like she's terrified of me."

"You must be misreading her reactions. You said yourself when you proposed that time that she said yes and was all happy wedded bliss."

"She was pretty shocked too."

"It's a big deal." She grinned. "Lois could make a whole career off of you."

"Don't remind me. No one from The Inquisitor i ever /i gets to know."

Personally, Chloe knew that if Lois had a choice between being loyal to her family, and by now the Kents certainly counted especially considering all they'd done for her, and getting the big story that she'd choose family. Just as she had. Sullivan-Lane girls were unfailingly loyal. Well, except for Lucy, but she was pretty much a lost cause. Still, Clark had already had a traumatizing experience with the worst tabloid in the country. He was not looking to repeat that disaster.

She reached out and took his right arm in hers. "Don't tell her then, but I think you're wrong. The Boys have seen tons of weird things. They wouldn't be afraid of you."

" i She's /i afraid of me."

Of course it came back to Lana. Clark was like a homing pigeon; maybe it was a Kryptonian thing. After all, Zod had elected her to be the mother of a whole half-breed race. Chloe forced the self-pity away. She was trying to help Clark now, like she always had. "You only think she's afraid. We don't know anything for sure, and even if she did know…Lana's, well, I love Lana but she's a bigot. She's all on board for 33.1. She's not too accepting of me either these days"

"I'm sorry."

"Well," Chloe said, thinking of Lana's conspicuous absence from her "funeral" "We were never as close as I thought we were. It was pretty one-sided with me giving all the support and her jumping to all the wrong conclusions."

He bent down and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry you guys aren't going to be able to stay friends. That this is going to tear you apart. I---"

"Limited pity, alright. It's not your fault, and I might not have her anymore but I have Justice and Lois will always have my back." Chloe chided. "Still the way she flinched when we were out to dinner with Nell. I just never thought Lana could be that cold, that she could ever willingly endorse something like 33.1. I mean, Nuremburg much?"

He sighed. "I always knew she was prejudiced. I tried to ignore it and I was pretty good at the denial. I would have even told her everything, I think, if that Van McNulty thing had never happened, but afterwards…"

"Only desperation would make you risk it." Chloe added bitterly. "You still love her."

It was an accusation, not a question.

"I used to love the idea of her." Clark corrected, squeezing her tightly. "I loved the idea of being normal, but everything's changed so much in the last two weeks."

"'Cause I'm a freak."

"Bitterness doesn't become you, Chlo. No, it's not about your meteor mutant status. Well not exactly, because it's amazing that you can understand me in a way Lana never could, but you've always been able to do that."

"Then what changed?"

"I can't hide anymore, not, now, because I have a whole legion---"

"There aren't that many bros."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine because I have four really good friends, three of whom aren't normal, and they've sucked it the Hell up and are trying to help people. Ollie can be an ass, but he had a point when he was here in the fall. There is a whole wide world out there that people like us can help, and I can't do that pretending to be normal or trying to force myself into loving the girl next door." He laughed bitterly. "Besides, I don't even know who Lana is anymore. She's changed so much, become Lex's right hand, and I'm not even sure where he stops and she begins."

"Cliché." Chloe chirped, grateful when he laughed politely. "So no more illusions, huh?"

"No," he said, leaning down and kissing her again, letting his left hand trail over her side and giving her hip a playful squeeze. "You fit me better than anyone. Khyla was only interested because she had a bracelet, because she desperately i needed /i the prophecy to be about her. I loved Alicia, a part of me always will---"

"I know." Chloe said, smothering the flicker of jealousy flaring up in her chest. Alicia had brought her into Clark's confidence, had gotten shot for Clark and tried in her own crazy, messed up way to keep him safe. Chloe owed her. Oddly, it was easier to accept that Clark had loved Alicia, whom he had married, than to think about him and Lana together.

Chloe listened as Clark continued. "But she was terrible for me. With her, I ended up drugged and married before I was even out of high school. She didn't really have a moral compass and I couldn't be that for her full time."

"I know that too."

"And with Lana I just wanted to hide everything, to play pretend. She only saw in me what she wanted to see."

"It's a talent of hers." Chloe conceded, her tone even. 

"And I only saw the princess who needed saving." He finished. "But you push me." He laughed and hugged her. "It's not even about pushing me to be a hero and to live up to what Jor-El---at least if Raya was right---wanted me to do. You push me in normal life, just by trying to guilt me into going back to school and picking up journalism. You push me to grow the Hell up."

"And I don't do damseling."

"Not often."

Trying to avoid slipping on the icy floor in her heels, Chloe stood up and pulled Clark up with her. "Come on."

"Excuse me?"

"I think I'm done with the date portion of our evening."

He blinked, "What about the food?s"

"You could leave it. This is like the world's biggest ice box."

"Point."

She leaned up and kissed him, giggling a little when he dipped her low as if they'd been dancing. Settling herself up, she leaned in close and trailed a nail up the front of his (only) dress shirt. "Let's. Go. Home."

He took her hand and led her to the portal to the caves. Contemplatively, he said, "I'll think about talking to the others, you know, about the alien thing." He was pointedly not looking at her when he made that concession.

Chloe sighed. She was going to have to do even more closet door-yanking. That was okay. Clark was right about one thing. Pushing him was one of her greatest talents. Forget the meteor mutant stuff, not putting up with his crap was her greatest ability.

Squeezing his hand, she took her place next to table that served as the portal to the caves. "I'm glad you're at least thinking about it. Now, let's not think about the Bros for the rest of the night. The Boys are back in Metropolis, and we at least have the loft to ourselves."

Clark arched an eyebrow at her as he inserted the key into the portal's slot. "To ourselves, huh?"

She gave him her Mona Lisa smile. "Do you want to work on giving my dad a coronary?"

He gulped as the silvery light of the portal shimmered around them. "You…you, minx."

Her smile widened. "And don't you forget it."


	19. Chapter 19

I have finished the fic. I took it to NC-17 territory and moved it off site to my personal live journal. My site is listed above in the author's information and the story is collected under the "aa" tag.

Enjoy!


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